The juxtaposition of discovery, development, and applications of analysis derived from these emerging areas of mathematics and physics is concurrently generating considerable excitement and skepticism. This symposium will convene a broad cross-section of expertise to address these and related questions. Based on studies of the properties of matter, the spectra of atoms and the motion of charged particles, quantum mechanics provided an extra-ordinary new framework for portraying physical reality. It is now recognized that quantum mechanics is basic not only to physics but to chemistry, biology and many of the other sciences. Beyond this, quantum mechanics has lead to the creation of new industries, such as semiconductors and optical communication, and has opened new paths of technology through the creation of exotic materials and devices like the laser, and the transistor, which contributed to the omnipresent computer.
Contemporary technology strives for a fine mastership of complex phenomena.
As it tries to assume a precise control of the use of energy, of the memorization and transmission of information, of the creation of new materials and of biological and medical practice, a need for more and more miniaturization and rapidity is unavoidable. A systematic recourse to quantum processes is a consequence of this evolution, and therefore systems described by quantum mechanics are looked upon with an active attitude, while quantum mechanics, and the way these describe physical systems, are subjected to critical scrutiny. This development stimulates the theoretical study of quantum systems from the point of view of general systems theory. It calls for the introduction of clear, well understood, physical concepts in the quantum domain. The aim of the symposium is to explore how the studie of quantum structure can contribute to the development of an integrated world view and scientific praxis.