CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 2,985Quantum Mechanics and ApplicationsParticle physics theoretical and experimental studiesRelativity and Gravitational Theory

Speakable and Unspeakable in Quatum Mechanics

Bell, J. S., Mermin, N. David·1988·Physics Today
DOI 10.1063/1.2811599
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

‘… the history of cosmic theories may without exaggeration be called a history of collective obsessions and controlled schizophrenias; and the manner in which some of the most important individual discoveries were arrived at reminds one of a sleepwalker's performance …’ This is a quotation from A. Koestler's book The Sleepwalkers . It is an account of the Copernican revolution, with Copernicus, Kepler, and Galilei as heroes. Koestler was of course impressed by the magnitude of the step made by these men. He was also fascinated by the manner in which they made it. He saw them as motivated by irrational prejudice, obstinately adhered to, making mistakes which they did not discover, which somehow cancelled at the important points, and unable to recognize what was important in their results, among the mass of details. He concluded that they were not really aware of what they were doing … sleepwalkers. I thought it would be interesting to keep Koestler's thesis in mind as we hear at this meeting about contemporary theories from contemporary theorists. For many decades now our fundamental theories have rested on the two great pillars to which this meeting is dedicated: quantum theory and relativity. We will see that the lines of research opened up by these theories remain splendidly vital. We will see that order is brought into a vast and expanding array of experimental data. We will see even a continuing ability to get ahead of the experimental data … as with the existence and masses of the W and Z mesons.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1063/1.2811599

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Quantum Origin generates randomness through a quantum process evaluated as quantum verifiable which utilizes a test for violation of a Bell Inequality or a higher order test of a Mermin Inequality on a NISQ machine.

    “Quantum origin generates randomness through a quantum process evaluated as quantum verifiable which utilizes a test for the violation of a Bell Inequality112,113 or a higher order test of a Mermin Inequality on a NISQ machine114.”

    From Quantum-resistance in blockchain networks (2023) · cites this paper as [112]

Cites

Still being checked.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Bell, J. S., & Mermin, N. D.
Affiliations
Cornell University (US)
Venue
Physics Today
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Published
1988-10-01
Volume
41
Issue
10
Pages
89-89
ISSN
  • 0031-9228 (ISSN-L)
  • 1945-0699
DOI
10.1063/1.2811599
OpenAlex
W2084883086
Cited by
2,985
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 89 · 2018: 62 · 2017: 71 · 2016: 117 · 2015: 126 · 2014: 159 · 2013: 129 · 2012: 149
Type
book review
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Physics Today (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum Mechanics and Applications
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Relativity and Gravitational Theory
Keywords
quantum mechanics, relativity, foundations of physics, history of physics, The Sleepwalkers, Copernican revolution, W and Z bosons

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review