The story of Einstein’s misgivings about quantum mechanics and about his debate with Bohr has been told many times—by the participants themselves,1 by their colleagues and contemporaries,2 and by historians and philosophers of science of later generations.3 So the question arises: Why tell the story yet again? The answer is that there is more to be said. I will argue that the standard histories have overlooked what was from early on the principal reason for Einstein’s reservations about quantum mechanics, namely, the non-separability of the quantum mechanical account of interactions, something ultimately unacceptable to Einstein because it could not be reconciled with the field-theoretic manner of describing interactions.4 Showing the significance of this issue for Einstein is important not only for the sake of setting right the historical record, but also because it makes Einstein’s critique of quantum mechanics far more interesting—from the point of view of the physics involved—than if we see it resting merely on a stubborn old man’s nostalgic attachment to classical determinism.

Vorschlag zu einem die Natur des elementaren Strahlungs-Emissionsprozesses betreffenden Experiment

“Nicht Sein Kann was Nicht Sein Darf,” or the Prehistory of EPR, 1909–1935: Einstein’s Early Worries about the Quantum Mechanics of Composite Systems

In this contribution I review rigorous formulations of a variety of limitations of measurability in quantum mechanics. To this end I begin with a brief presentation of the conceptual tools of modern measurement theory. I will make precise the notion that quantum measurements necessarily alter the system under investigation and elucidate its connection with the complementarity and uncertainty principles.

\No Information Without Disturbance": Quantum Limitations of Measurement

Quantum Reality, Relativistic Causality, and Closing the Epistemic Circle

Einstein's fluctuation formula and the wave-particle duality

Physics has seldom had to deal with claims of alteration or fabrication of data, such as have troubled biological and medical research in recent years. The case of Emil Rupp in the 1930s was, however, a notable exception. The present paper revisits this case, adding in certain areas to earlier accounts of Rupp and his work. The case is not without significance, because Rupp’s publications carried considerable weight during a historically important era of 20th-century physics.

Vorschlag zu einem die Natur des elementaren Strahlungs-Emissionsprozesses betreffenden Experiment

Citations

“Nicht Sein Kann was Nicht Sein Darf,” or the Prehistory of EPR, 1909–1935: Einstein’s Early Worries about the Quantum Mechanics of Composite Systems

\No Information Without Disturbance": Quantum Limitations of Measurement

Quantum Reality, Relativistic Causality, and Closing the Epistemic Circle

Einstein's fluctuation formula and the wave-particle duality

The Strange Case of Emil Rupp

Related Papers (3)

The Historical Development of Quantum Theory

The quantum theory of radiation

Uber einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt