Elise Crull (postdoctoral fellow, Hebrew U.), "Grete Hermann: Pioneer for Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics"

 

 

Monday, May 26, 18:00 PM

Gilman Building, Hall 449

 

Chair: Yossi Schwartz

 

In the 1930s, a time when major figures like Einstein, Schrödinger, Bohr and Heisenberg were intensely occupied with interpreting quantum mechanics, a young doctoral student of Emmy Noether's named Grete Hermann became interested in defending Kant's notion of causality in the face of this new and indeterministic theory. Hermann visited Leipzig in 1934-1935 to study with Heisenberg, her visit culminating in a lengthy essay concerning the natural-philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics which is becoming recognized as one of the first and finest philosophical treatments of the theory.  Nevertheless, Hermann’s part in the canonical history—and in particular, her interplay with key members of the so-called ‘Copenhagen interpretation’ at the very time of its inception—remains almost entirely unexplored.

In my talk I hope to remedy this situation by introducing several key insights from Hermann's 1935 thesis, including her nuanced treatment of Bohr's doctrine of complementarity -- a notoriously confusing aspect of the `Copenhagen interpretation' which Hermann presents with unprecedented clarity.  I will also demonstrate that after only a few years' acquaintance with this new and bewildering theory, Hermann was nevertheless one of the very first to recognize its most mysterious feature -- entanglement.