Philosophy and 20th Century Physics

2009 ◽  
pp. 115-140
Author(s):  
Gilles Cohen-Tannoudji
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
20Th Century Physics

‘Wheels have been set in motion’: Geocentrism and Relativity in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliane Campos
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Film Adaptation ◽  
Frames Of Reference ◽  
Quantum Uncertainty ◽  
Galilean Relativity ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
20Th Century Physics ◽  
Time Specific ◽  
Do So

By decentring our reading of Hamlet, Stoppard’s tragicomedy questions the legitimacy of centres and of stable frames of reference. So Liliane Campos examines how Stoppard plays with the physical and cosmological models he finds in Hamlet, particularly those of the wheel and the compass, and gives a new scientific depth to the fear that time is ‘out of joint’. In both his play and his own film adaptation, Stoppard’s rewriting gives a 20th-century twist to these metaphors, through references to relativity, indeterminacy, and the role of the observer. When they refer to the uncontrollable wheels of their fate, his characters no longer describe the destruction of order, but uncertainty about which order is at work, whether heliocentric or geocentric, random or tragic. When they express their loss of bearings, they do so through the thought experiments of modern physics, from Galilean relativity to quantum uncertainty, drawing our attention to shifting frames of reference. Much like Schrödinger’s cat, Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are both dead and alive. As we observe their predicament, Campos argues, we are placed in the paradoxical position of the observer in 20th-century physics, and constantly reminded that our time-specific relation to the canon inevitably determines our interpretation.

The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in 20th‐Century Physics

Physics Today ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 92-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Crease ◽  
Charles C. Mann ◽  
David Park
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
20Th Century Physics ◽  
The Revolution

The Influence of Idealism in 20th Century Physics

1994 ◽  
pp. 233-239
Author(s):  
Heather McCouat ◽  
Simon Prokhovnik
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
20Th Century Physics

20th Century Physics: Essays and Recollections

10.1142/2852 ◽  
1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Battimelli ◽  
Giovanni Paoloni
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
20Th Century Physics

20th century physics: 1900–1933

Enrico Fermi ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 45-104
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Bruzzaniti
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
20Th Century Physics
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