Mélanie Frappier

Special issue on visual representations and reasoning

M É LAN I E FRAP P I ER 1 , L E T I T I A MEYNELL 2 and JAMES ROBERT BROWN History of Science and Technology Programme, University of King’s College, Halifax, Nova Scotia; e-mail: melanie.frappier@ukings.ca; Department of Philosophy, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; e-mail: letitia.meynell@dal.ca; Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; e-mail: jrbrown@chass.utoronto.ca

Questioning quantum mechanics

In a critique of the Copenhagen dogma, a physicist gives voice to “quantum dissidents” A century after its inception, quantum mechanics continues to puzzle us with dead-and-alive cats, waves collapsing into particles, and spooky action at a distance. In his first book, What Is Real?, science writer and astrophysicist Adam Becker sets out to explore why the physics community is still arguing today about quantum mechanicss true meaning.

Understanding the double slit

Glimpses of quantum truth appear in diverse interpretations of the famous physics experiment To Richard Feynman, the double-slit experiment encapsulated quantum physicss one and only mystery. Its results could be described but, he cautioned, could not be explained. Veteran science journalist Anil Ananthaswamy rejects this fatalistic perspective. On the contrary, he argues, a deeper understanding of the quantum world can only be achieved by embracing the diversity of interpretations available to us, a claim he persuasively defends in Through Two Doors at Once.

‘In the No-Man’s-Land Between Physics and Logic’: On the Dialectical Role of the Microscope Experiment

Thought experiments—these experiments that we perform only in our imagination, like Einstein’s falling elevator—have played an important role in the establishment of quantum physics. Yet, their legitimacy was—and still is—contentious. How is the validity of an experiment conducted in the “laboratory of our mind” to be ascertained? Such worries too often arise from a misunderstanding as to the nature of thought experiments, which are commonly understood and used as mere rhetorical devices, inductive argument, or self-contained models. But in the eyes of those influenced by Leonard Nelson, thought experiments should rather be understood as small, but important elements of the broader dialectic arguments necessary for the establishment and development of physical theories. Far from being irrefutable proofs for the Nelsonians, thought experiments must be constantly revisited, transformed, and repurposed as our understanding of nature deepens. More importantly, as the debate between Werner Heisenberg , Karl Popper , and Grete Hermann on the microscope experiment demonstrates, it is this very flexibility that enables thought experiments to contribute to our understanding of nature even when they fail.

Analysis and Interpretation in the Exact Sciences

Of course, from childhood to forever, we are always thought to love reading. It is not only reading the lesson book but also reading everything good is the choice of getting new inspirations. Religion, sciences, politics, social, literature, and fictions will enrich you for not only one aspect. Having more aspects to know and understand will lead you become someone more precious. Yea, becoming precious can be situated with the presentation of how your knowledge much.