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More than a century after the beginning of the quantum revolution, historians continue to explore new facets in the history of quantum physics, and to re-examine some of its better-known aspects. The thirteen papers collected in this volume, by authors from five continents, present central trends in the current study of quantum physics within its theoretical, experimental, philosophical, technological and social contexts. They discuss developments from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century and go beyond the traditional focus on Europe and North America to include China and Japan, and beyond the Heisenbergs and Diracs to reveal the role of actors who hitherto have played only a marginal role in historical account, but left their mark on the development of quantum physics. Also a wider array of subdisciplines comes into view, from optics to quantum gravity through quantum electrodynamics, from atomic and nuclear to condense matter physics and foundations of physics. Moreover, the volume shows that fields such as dispersion, physical chemistry and solid state physics should not be seen merely as areas of applications of ideas that evolved in other contexts, but should be regarded as birthplaces of important theoretical insights. The perspective of the papers ranges from local histories to global discussions, from conceptual changes via the role of experimentation to interactions with social and technological forces and to the interpretation of the theory.

MPRL --- Edition Open Access --- history of quantum physics --- foundations of quantum physics --- historical epistemology --- old quantum theory --- quantum mechanics

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From the infinitely small to the infinitely big, covering over 60 spatial orders of magnitude, quantum theory is used as much to describe the still largely mysterious vibrations of the microscopic strings that could be the basic constituents of the Universe, as to explain the fluctuations of the microwave radiation reaching us from the depths of outer space. Serge Haroche tells us about the scientific theory that revolutionised our understanding of nature and made an extraordinary contributio...

quantum physics, atom, atomic physics, laser, optics

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Quantum theory has been a subject of interpretational debates ever since its inception. The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, the empirical violation of Bell’s inequalities, and recent activities to exploit quantum entanglement for technological innovation only exacerbate a long-standing philosophical debate. Despite no-signaling theorems and theories of decoherence, deep-rooted conflicts between special relativistic principles and observed quantum correlations as well as between definite measurement outcomes and quantum theoretical superpositions persist.This collection of papers, first presented at an international symposium at the University of Bern in 2011, highlights some recent approaches to the old problems of a philosophy of quantum mechanics. The authors address the issues from a variety of perspectives, ranging from variations of causal theory and system theoretic interpretations of the observer to an empirical test of whether entanglement itself can be entangled. The essays demonstrate that the discussion about the foundations of quantum mechanics is as lively and interesting as ever.

MPRL --- Edition Open Access --- quantum mechanics --- philosophy of science --- history of science --- no-signaling --- decoherence --- causality

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Historians of quantum physics and early quantum mechanics have seldom paid attention to the ways the new theory was integrated in physics textbooks, perhaps taking for granted that novelties in science can only be taught once they are fully understood and generally accepted. The essays in this volume challenge this view by studying some of the early books and textbooks in which quantum theory was first introduced. By so doing, the authors show the many ways books and textbooks embody pedagogical and research practices in certain local environments (geographical, disciplinary, in terms of expertise, etc.), as well as the circular feedback between research and pedagogy.Textbooks can become the subject of a history of early quantum physics since the very process of writing a textbook, (i.e., of trying to organise a new doctrine to the newcomer in an accessible way), together with its life as an object that is issued, used, changed, and abandoned, incorporates many of the tensions between research and pedagogy. Furthermore, the life of these books can also help us better situate less known actors in the history of quantum physics, by bringing into the picture the reasons, the context, the research agenda, and other aspects that cannot be found in the publication of research papers or in the abundant correspondence between the main physicists involved in this story.The case studies collected in this volume may, at first glance, look like a heterogeneous set. Some books were not, in fact, primarily addressing quantum theory as such, but including some of its early principles in re-shaping the established foundational principles and modes of teaching in fields such as optics and physical chemistry. Others were written by scientists not directly involved in the development of the new physics, and their books were addressed at an audience interested in having only a superficial knowledge of the theory of quanta. Finally, the main actors in the formulation of quantum theory wrote books on the quantum for different purposes: as a way to organise their thoughts, to spread a particular interpretation of the theory, or to press for their personal research agendas, among others. This heterogeneity is, however, the tool the editors use to give a full picture of the role of early textbooks in the history of quantum physics.

MPRL --- Edition Open Access --- history of quantum physics --- physics textbooks --- history of pedagogy --- history of science --- science textbooks