Causality (Physics)

Interviewed by
Maurice Wilkins
Interview date
Abstract

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.

Interviewed by
Maurice Wilkins
Interview date
Abstract

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.

Interviewed by
Maurice Wilkins
Interview date
Abstract

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.

Interviewed by
Charles Weiner
Interview date
Location
Varian Physics Building, Stanford University, California
Abstract

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.