2006/08/25 by Osvaldo Pessoa Jr, Osvaldo Pessoa, Olival Freire +5
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Philosophy and History of Science #Philosophy, Science, and History #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0608250
A revised version of this paper is now accepted to be published in Physics in Perspective. Its new title is The Tausk Controversy on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: Physics, Philosophy, and Politics. Their authors have withdrawn its first version. The full text can be posted in the web after its publication
openalex publication_date 2006/08/25 · arxiv created 2007/03/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In 1966, the Brazilian physicist Klaus Tausk circulated a preprint from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, in Trieste, criticizing the theory put forward by Daneri, Loinger & Prosperi on the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. This led to a heated controversy, which reflected two opposing camps within the orthodox interpretation of quantum theory, represented by Leon Rosenfeld and Eugene Wigner. But the controversy also went beyond the strictly scientific issues, involving the political context of the Cold War, the relations between developed and "Third world" countries, the use of social skills, and personal idiosyncrasies.