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"A wealth of observations on contemporary mathematicians and physicists, from David Hilbert to Richard Feynman."--"American Scientist"

E.P. Wigner, one of the leading scientists involved in the early development of nuclear technology, had always in mind its political and social implications. In the 60s persuing his goal of a peaceful open world he began to develop the concept of Civil Defense against nuclear attacks. Looking back one might see this as an alternative to the concept of the Nuclear Shield. The present volume contains a selection of Wigner's writings on this subject. It is annotated by Conrad Chester.

The fourth volume of the Collected Works is devoted to Wigner's contribution to physical chemistry, statistical mechanics and solid-state physics. In his annotation to the first part, N. Balazs clearly points out Wigner's role in early quantum chemistry and applied statistical mechanics. One corner stone was his introducing of what is now called the Wigner function, and his paper on adiabatic perturbations foreshadowed later work on Berry phases. Although few in number, Wigner's articles on solid-state physics laid the ground for the modern theory of the electronic structure of metals. W....

Among the founding fathers of modern quantum physics few have contributed to our basic understanding of its concepts as much as E.P. Wigner. His articles on the epistemology of quantum mechanics and the measurement problem, and the basic role of symmetries were of fundamental importance for all subsequent work. He was also the first to discuss the concept of consciousness from the point of view of modern physics. G.G. Emch edited most of those papers and wrote a very helpful introduction into Wigner's contributions to Natural Philosophy. The book should be a gem for all those interested in...