Causality (Physics)

Discussions with Krishnamurti; development of implicate order; student Donald Schumacher interested in Niels Bohr; Niels Bohr’s theories on quantum mechanics and their influence; Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein’s discussions about quantum mechanics; causal interpretation implicate order and formative cause; synthesis of mathematical and intuitive approaches; interest in the language used in physics; Erwin Schrödinger’s calculations.

Bohm’s intellectual autobiography; Hegelian philosophy; Saint Nicholas of Cusa – implecatio, explicatio, complicatio – folding and unfolding; Mario Schoenberg on Hegel – causality and chance; Mashulan Groll on Hegel – unity of opposites; nature of thought as a process; translation problems from Hegel’s German; Bertrand Russell and Hegel; Hegelian principles applied to physics; logic – rules of logic, logic of reason, creative logic, higher order logic.

Science fiction story idea The Matter of the Beings; dream about cats and missing the big picture because of concern about details; religious community compared to the scientific community; University of Sao Paolo, Brazil (1951-1955); work with Walter Schutzer, Ralph Shiller, Mario Schoenberg; exploration of philosophy including Hegel, Monou, Marx; necessity and contingency; Causality and Chance in Modern Physics; Brazilian nationality; visit to Jeanne-Pierre Vigier in Paris and Eric Burrup in England.

Recollections of physics community in 1920s and early 1930s; opportunities for physics work in Europe; awareness of political climate in Germany (1932); relationship with Werner Heisenberg at University of Leipzig; awarded Rockefeller Fellowship to study at University of Rome; contacts with physicists after Leipzig and before Rome; John Von Neumann's list of refugee physicists; offered appointment to position at Stanford University; visit to University of Copenhagen and Niels Bohr's advice to accept appointment; relinquishing of second half of fellowship; influenced by Bohr, Heisenberg and others; Bloch's influence on Enrico Fermi leading to theory of neutrino; met by Gregory Breit on arrival in New York; initial teaching duties at Stanford; theoretical physics in America in 1934; distinctions between Europe and America on theory vs. experiment; seminars with J. Robert Oppenheimer; first interest in experimental work; early research on neutrons; recollections of 1935 Michigan Summer School; started Stanford Summer School in 1936 with George Gamow as first visitor (Fermi 1937, Isidor Isaac Rabi 1938, Victor F. Weisskopf 1939); origin of idea of neutron polarization; 1936 paper proposing neutron magnetic moment experiment; 1937 Galvani Conference in Bologna; use of Berkeley 37-inch cyclotron for magnetic moment experiment; decision to build cyclotron at Stanford; construction supported by Rockefeller Foundation; initial involvement with Manhattan Project; recollections of receiving news of fission; neutron work for Manhattan Project at Stanford; marriage in 1940; work on implosion at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory; reasons for leaving Los Alamos; work on radar at Harvard University; first ideas on measuring nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); helpfulness of radar experience in NMR work; William W. Hansen and the klystron; fate of the first Stanford cyclotron; knowledge of Edward M. Purcell's work on NMR; publication of initial results, 1946-1948; Rabi and Polykarp Kusch's work on molecular beams; development of NMR field; Nobel Prize award; association with CERN, 1954; contributions of greatest impact.