Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Physics by David J. Griffiths Science & Nature

Sue Sulcs

Malcolm H. Mac Gregor

Stephen Edelston Toulmin

Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger +4 more

The twentieth century has seen two major revolutions in our theories of physics concerning nature, and these have made us change many of our concepts about the terms in which nature can be described. The new theories born in these revolutions are the theory of relativity and of quantum mechanics. The biological sciences had their revolutions in the nineteenth century, and while remarkable progress has been made since, nothing comparable to that upheaval has occurred in this century. Of the two massive changes in the concepts of the physical sciences, we can discuss but one here. [excerpt]

Dawne McCance

Abstract. Arguing that the revolution in postmodern physics is concerned essentially not with a change in paradigm but with a change in interpretive standpoint, this paper explores a parallel between the aetiology of disease in Buddhism and the interpretive standpoint introduced by twentieth‐century quantum physics. The paper suggests a need to revise central interpretive assumptions of the natural and human sciences, including the traditional projection of an atomistic self.