Einstein’s Struggles with Quantum Theory

Dipankar Home, Andrew Whitaker

Guido Bacciagaluppi, Antony Valentini

In this chapter, we address proposals (by Einstein and by Bohr, Kramers and Slater) according to which quantum events are influenced by ‘guiding fields’ in 3-space. These ideas led to a predicted violation of energy-momentum conservation for single events, in contradiction with experiment. The contradiction was resolved only by the introduction of guiding fields in configuration space. All this took place before the fifth Solvay conference, but nevertheless forms an important background to some of the discussions that took place there. Einstein's early attempts to formulate a dynamical theory of light quanta Since the publication of his light-quantum hypothesis in 1905, Einstein had been engaged in a solitary struggle to construct a detailed theory of light quanta, and to understand the relationship between the quanta on the one hand and the electromagnetic field on the other. Einstein's efforts in this direction were never published. We know of them indirectly: they are mentioned in letters, and they are alluded to in Einstein's 1909 lecture in Salzburg. Einstein's published papers on light quanta continued for the most part in the same vein as his 1905 paper: using the theory of fluctuations to make deductions about the nature of radiation, without giving details of a substantial theory. Einstein was essentially alone in his dualistic view of light, in which localised energy fragments coexisted with extended waves, until the work of de Broglie in 1923 – which extended the dualism to all particles, and made considerable progress towards a real theory (see Chapter 2).

Huw Price

David Böhm

OUR EDITOR caught up with physicist David Bohm for a few days at Bailey Farm, a “think-tank” for lawyers in New York state. Autumn was crisp in the air with golden leaves and agreeable conversation as they walked together through the local woods. Bohm was in the middle of writing several books simultaneously with a number of his colleagues on the brood implications of his view of quantum physics for current ideas in psychology, sociology, and philosophy. In this wide-ranging interview, Bohm talks for the first time about his early scientific development, his relations with Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, and his idealistic struggles to actualize heightened states of being within a creative community. He also talks about imagery, stress, and the difficult evolutionary struggle in which we are currently engaged to free our minds from the negative conditioning of the past and the conceptual blind alleys of the present. David Bohm takes us on a journey into the post-modern world, a cultural step beyond relativity and quantum theory.

Seiya Abiko

Derek Lovejoy

Philosophical relativism, which denies objectivity and undermines causality, has been a constant feature of ideological struggle in this century, especially in mystifying science and undercutting belief in social progress through scientific understanding. Surprisingly, while the relativist attack has been led by culture critics, they have been able to claim support from the writings of some of the leading scientists themselves, especially in quantum theory. While current quantum theory yields a highly accurate representation of reality, it has been interpreted to deny objectivity and causality. Einstein fought throughout his life against these relativist interpretations, associated especially with the views of Bohr and Heisenberg. It is only in the last few years that Einstein has been largely vindicated by new experimental and theoretical developments, and by a fuller understanding of how the Copenhagen interpretation of Bohr came to dominate the conventional wisdom.