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L.I. Mandelstam’s Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics in the Context of the Discussions of the 1930–1940s

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Leonid Isaakovich Mandelstam

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Abstract

This chapter is devoted to the Mandelstam’s work on the interpretation of quantum mechanics. His interpretation is regarded as the ensemble interpretation. In this connection the classification of the ensemble interpretations is discussed. The chapter is also concerned with the ensemble interpretation of quantum mechanics provided by another Soviet physicist, K.V. Nikolsky. The philosophical approach of Hessen and Andronov to quantum mechanics is also taken into consideration.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Tamm spoke in favor of the Copenhagen interpretation in his early paper [303]. The Copenhagen approach to quantum theory was well-known among Soviet physicists mainly due to [143].

  2. 2.

    Blokhintsev’s book [49] was rather popular in the USSR.

  3. 3.

    (1) Interview with S.M. Ryrtov; (2) The Archives of Lebedev Physics Institute (FIAN) contain a copy of the director 1937 order to give a bonus to Nikolsky for his contribution to the foundations of quantum mechanics.

  4. 4.

    Objectivism in the philosophy of quantum mechanics should not be mixed with materialism and even realism. About the structure of the concept “objectivity” see [80, 99].

  5. 5.

    American proponents of the ensemble interpretation were also influenced by operationalism: see Kemble’s writings [165, 167]. Slater prepared his Ph.D. thesis under Bridgman and attended Kemble’s lectures. Kemble also started under Bridgman [284]. Margenau criticized Bridgman’s operationalism but he was also influenced by this philosophy. There are cross references in American writings about the ensemble interpretation [116, 165, 166, 293, 294]. Kemble, Slater, Nikolsky implicitly proceeded from the ontology of particles (about this ontology see: [126]).

  6. 6.

    As a matter of facts, the Soviet science is separated from Western science in the writings of Sovietologists (see, for example, [138, 139]). A. Vucinich provides a more tacit estimation: he points to the Soviet scientists opposition to dialectical materialism [347].

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Alexander Pechenkin

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Pechenkin, A. (2014). L.I. Mandelstam’s Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics in the Context of the Discussions of the 1930–1940s. In: Leonid Isaakovich Mandelstam. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00572-0_14

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