David Hilbert's Lectures on the Foundations of Physics, 1915-1927
Subtitle: Relativity, Quantum Theory and Epistemology
Contributors: Ulrich Majer (Editor); Tilman Sauer (Editor); Heinz-Jürgen Schmidt (Editor)
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Springer
Published: November 2008
Language: eng; ger
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 650
ISBN-13: 9783540206064
Subjects: Relativity physics; General Relativity Theory; Quantum Mechanics; Science; Mathematics; Science/Mathematics; General; History & Philosophy; Mathematical Physics; Hilbert; Mathematics / History; history and philosophy of physics; quantumtheory; relativitytheory; Physics; Quantum Theory; Relativity
Description: Volume 5 has three parts, dealing with General Relativity, Epistemological Issues, and Quantum Mechanics. The core of the first part is Hilbert’s two semester lecture course on ‘The Foundations of Physics’ (1916/17). This is framed by Hilbert’s published ‘First and Second Communications’ on the ‘Foundations of Physics’ (1915, 1917) and by a selection of documents dealing with more specific topics like ‘The Principle of Causality’ or a lecture on the new concepts of space and time held in Bucharest in 1918. The epistemological issues concern the intricate relation between nature and mathematical knowledge, in particular the question of irreversibility and objectivity (1921) as well as the subtle question whether what Hilbert calls the ‘world equations’ are physically complete (1923). The last part deals with quantum theory in its early, advanced and mature stages. Hilbert held lecture courses on the mathematical foundations of quantum theory twice, before and after the breakthrough in 1926. These documents bear witness to one of the most dramatic changes in the foundations of science.