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The Seventh Solvay Conference: Nuclear Physics at the Crossroads

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No Truth Except in the Details

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 167))

Abstract

The seventh Solvay Conference, held at the Free University of Brussels from October 22–29, 1933,1 occupies a place in the history of nuclear physics similar to the one that the first Solvay Conference, held twenty- two years earlier in the Hotel Métropole in Brussels, occupies in the history of quantum physics. Both were the first to be devoted to their respective areas of physics; both were held soon after fundamental discoveries had opened up and transformed their fields; and both served to consolidate knowledge that had been gained and to expose problems that awaited solutions. Martin J. Klein has discussed the first Solvay Conference in his writings.2 In this paper, I shall examine the seventh Solvay Conference, using it as a vantage point from which to view the social and political currents and the theoretical and experimental developments that were buffeting and transforming nuclear physics in the fall of 1933.

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Notes

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in History of Science and Technology School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, USA

    Roger H. Stuewer

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  1. Roger H. Stuewer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A. J. Kox

  2. Einstein Papers Project, Boston University, USA

    A. J. Kox

  3. University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

    Daniel M. Siegel

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© 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Stuewer, R.H. (1995). The Seventh Solvay Conference: Nuclear Physics at the Crossroads. In: Kox, A.J., Siegel, D.M. (eds) No Truth Except in the Details. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 167. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0217-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0217-9_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4097-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0217-9

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