Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...

194 CHAPTER 42. COPENHAGEN INTERPRETATION
42.1 The 5th Solvay Conference 1927
The objective of the fifth Solvay Conference in Brussels in 1927 on Electrons
and Photons was to find the soul of modern physics by clarifiying the meaning
of quantum mechanics and its description of the nature of reality. Bohr
believed he had found the answer, but it remained for Bohr to convince
Einstein who had not yet been dethroned as the king of physics and so the
leading physicists of the world assembled with great expectancy to witness a
shoot-out between two giants.
• We consider quantum mechanics to be a closed theory, whose fundamenta
physical and mathematical assumptions are no longer susceptible
of any modification. (Born-Heisenberg)
• Mr Schrödinger says at the end of his report that the discussion he
has given reinforces the hope that when our knowledge will be deeper it
will be possible to explain and to understand in three dimensions the
results provided by the multi-dimensional theory. I see nothing in Mr
Schrödinger’s calculation that would justify this hope. (Heisenberg)
• Bohr towering completely over everybody. At first not understood at all
(Born was not there), then step by step defeating everybody....Einstein
all the time with new examples...Bohr constantly searching for the tools
to crush one example after the other...Oh that was priceless. (Ehrenfest)
42.2 The EPR Controversy 1935
Together with Podolsky and Rosen, Einstein posed in May 1935 the Can
Quantum Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?
in a four page article in Physical Review, referred to as the EPR
paper. New York Times took up the story under the the headline Einstein
Attacks Quantum Theory
• Professor Einstein will attack science’s important theory of quantum
mechanics, a theory of which he was sort of grandfather
The idea of EPR was to give an example showing that both momentum and
position of a particle could be viewed to be determined at the same time,