Pauli's Exclusion Principle: The Origin and Validation of a Scientific Principle

ISBN-13: 9780521839112 / Angielski / Twarda / 2005 / 226 str.

Michela Massimi

Opis

There is hardly another principle in physics with wider scope of applicability and more far-reaching consequences than Pauli's exclusion principle. This book explores the principle's origin in the atomic spectroscopy of the early 1920s, its subsequent embedding into quantum mechanics, and later experimental validation with the development of quantum chromodynamics. Reconstruction of the crucial historic episode provides an excellent foil to reconsider Kuhn's view on incommensurability. The variety of themes skillfully interwoven will appeal to philosophers, historians, scientists and anyone interested in philosophy.

Recenzje

Review of the hardback: 'It is precisely the integration between historical description and philosophical analysis which makes the book so appealing and relevant to current science studies. … a book such as Massimi's clearly demonstrates that in some cases an integrated historico-philosophical approach is not only possible but also eminently fruitful.' Helge Kragh, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

Spis treści

1. The exclusion principle: a philosophical overview; 2. The origins of the exclusion principle: an extremely natural prescriptive rule; 3. From the old quantum theory to the new quantum theory: reconsidering Kuhn's incommensurability; 4. How Pauli's rule became the exclusion principle: from the Fermi-Dirac statistics to the spin-statistics theorem; 5. The exclusion principle opens up new avenues: from the eightfold way to quantum chromodynamics.