Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Part I Perspectives on the 1927 Solvay conference
- Part II Quantum foundations and the 1927 Solvay conference
- 5 Quantum theory and the measurement problem
- 6 Interference, superposition and wave packet collapse
- 7 Locality and incompleteness
- 8 Time, determinism and the spacetime framework
- 9 Guiding fields in 3-space
- 10 Scattering and measurement in de Broglie's pilot-wave theory
- 11 Pilot-wave theory in retrospect
- 12 Beyond the Bohr–Einstein debate
- Part III The proceedings of the 1927 Solvay conference
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
12 - Beyond the Bohr–Einstein debate
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Part I Perspectives on the 1927 Solvay conference
- Part II Quantum foundations and the 1927 Solvay conference
- 5 Quantum theory and the measurement problem
- 6 Interference, superposition and wave packet collapse
- 7 Locality and incompleteness
- 8 Time, determinism and the spacetime framework
- 9 Guiding fields in 3-space
- 10 Scattering and measurement in de Broglie's pilot-wave theory
- 11 Pilot-wave theory in retrospect
- 12 Beyond the Bohr–Einstein debate
- Part III The proceedings of the 1927 Solvay conference
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The fifth Solvay conference is usually remembered for the clash that took place between Bohr and Einstein, supposedly concerning in particular the possibility of breaking the uncertainty relations. It might be assumed that this clash took the form of an official debate that was the centrepiece of the conference. However, no record of any such debate appears in the published proceedings, where both Bohr and Einstein are in fact relatively silent.
The available evidence shows that in 1927 the famous exchanges between Bohr and Einstein actually consisted of informal discussions, which took place semiprivately (mainly over breakfast and dinner), and which were overheard by just a few of the participants, in particular Heisenberg and Ehrenfest. The historical sources for this consist, in fact, entirely of accounts given by Bohr, Heisenberg and Ehrenfest. These accounts essentially ignore the extensive formal discussions appearing in the published proceedings.
As a result of relying on these sources, the perception of the conference by posterity has been skewed on two counts. First, at the fifth Solvay conference there occurred much more that was memorable and important besides the Bohr–Einstein clash. Second, as shown in detail by Howard (1990), the real nature of Einstein's objections was in fact misunderstood by Bohr, Heisenberg and Ehrenfest – for Einstein's main target was not the uncertainty relations, but what he saw as the non-separability of quantum theory.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Quantum Theory at the CrossroadsReconsidering the 1927 Solvay Conference, pp. 242 - 250Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009