Higher Seminar: "The observable revelation: circulation of fundamental concepts between theology and quantum physics in the 1930s"
We are happy to welcome Karolina Enquist Källgren as presenter in our Higher Seminar series. Karolina is an associate professor in history of ideas at Stockholm University, with a focus on the relationship between religion and physics in the 1920s with special regard to the early development of quantum physics.
Time: Mon 2021-09-20 13.15 - 14.45
Location: Zoom
Language: English
Participating: Karolina Enquist Källgren, associate professor, Stockholm University
This zoom seminar is open for everyone who register. Please send an email to higher-seminar@kth.se if you would like to attend.
Presenter
Karolina Enquist Källgren. Read more about Karolina on Stockholm University's homepage.
Abstract
It is a well-established view that religion and metaphysics played an important role in the development of early 20th century physics (Bitbol et al., 2009, Seth, 2008, Kragh, 1999, Heisenberg, 1969). It is likewise a common contention between historians of quantum physics that this new branch of physics developed in close interaction between physics debating and dialoguing around fundamental conceptions of physical reality (Beller, 1999, Kragh, 1999). The purpose of this paper is to further our understanding of the role that concrete dialogues with religious ideas and theology played in the development of early quantum physics (before 1935). Understanding the concepts of ‘observation’ and 'observable' to be concepts in flux (Beller, 1999) and thus circulating between disciplines, I investigate the interaction and dialogue between Spanish theologian Xavier Zubiri and the physicists Erwin Schrödinger between 1929-1935, both of which worked together at the Berlin Max Planck physics seminar