Definitions

Prof. Sir Alfred Brian Pippard (1920-2008), Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Cambridge, was the Cavendish Professor of Physics from 1971 until 1982 and an Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, of which he was the first President. He was the author of “Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics” (1957), “Dynamics of Conduction Electrons” (1962), “Forces and Particles” (1972), “The Physics of Vibration” (Vol. I., 1978; Vol. II., 1983), “Response and Stability”(1985), “Magneto-Resistance” (1989), and is also a co-author of the three-volume encyclopaedia “Twentieth Century Physics”, he served as editor of the “European Journal of Physics”, and, as the Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, he compiled “Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics”, based in large part on past examination questions for Cambridge physics students. He was the doctoral supervisor of Brian David Josephson (awarded PhD in Physics in 1964) who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 “for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a super-current through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects” (awarded together with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever “for their experimental discoveries regarding tunnelling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively”). He had no strong religious views, but he believed science had its limits: “it cannot cope with human feelings or belief at all; the strength of science lies in the fact that it does not try to do (these) things”. He was president of the Institute of Physics from 1974 to 1976 and won several prizes, including the “Hughes Medal of the Royal Society” of which he was elected a fellow in 1956. He was knighted in 1974).

RICHARD: As the word “electrons” refers to the postulated corpuscles of Theoretical Physics (along with “atoms” and “molecules” and “sub-atomic particles” and “electrons” and “photons”) they cannot rationally be equated with material objects in the physical world insofar as theoretical physicists do not describe the universe – mathematical equations have no existence outside of the ratiocinative and illative⁾ process – as exemplified by the following extract from the Encyclopaedia Britannica (written in 1994 by Prof. Sir Alfred B. Pippard, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Cambridge).

• ‘It must be realised, however, that the world of experience and observation is not the world of electrons and nuclei. When a bright spot on a television screen *is interpreted as* the arrival of a stream of electrons, it is still only the bright spot that is perceived *and not the electrons*. The world of experience is described by the physicist in terms of visible objects, occupying definite positions at definite instants of time – in a word, the world of classical mechanics. When the atom is pictured as a nucleus surrounded by electrons, this picture is a necessary concession to human limitations; there is no sense in which one can say that, if only a good enough microscope were available, this picture would be revealed as genuine reality. It is not that such a microscope has not been made; it is *actually impossible to make one* that will reveal this detail’. [emphases added]. ~ (Prof. Sir Alfred Brian Pippard; ©1994; Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Once the not-observable as objects in space and time basis of sub-atomic particles is established – (as distinct from “visible objects occupying definite positions at definite instants of time” that is) – the mathematical processes involved unfold further mysteries accordingly. Viz.:

▪ “The process of transformation from a classical description to an equation of quantum mechanics, and from the solution of this equation to the probability that a specified experiment will yield a specified observation, is not to be thought of as a temporary expedient pending the development of a better theory. It is better to accept this process as a technique for predicting the observations that are likely to follow from an earlier set of observations. Whether electrons and nuclei have *an objective existence in reality is a metaphysical question to which no definite answer can be given*. There is, however, no doubt that *to postulate their existence* is, in the present state of physics, an inescapable necessity if a consistent theory is to be constructed to describe economically and exactly the enormous variety of observations on the behaviour of matter”. [emphases added]. ~ (Prof. Sir Alfred Brian Pippard; ©1994; Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Almost needless is it to say, once this postulation is accepted – and as “an inescapable necessity” at that – there is no prize for guessing what will happen. Viz.:

To reiterate for emphasis; as theoretical physicists do not describe the universe – mathematical equations have no existence outside of the ratiocinative and illative processes – those “atoms” and “molecules” and “sub-atomic particles” and “electrons” and “photons” so prevalent throughout Theoretical Physics have no actual existence (i.e., do not subsist in physical reality).

Richard’s correspondence on this topic: 

List B, Respondent No. 30

List AF, Respondent No. 30

List AF, Respondent No. 27

List AF, Respondent No. 49

List AF, Respondent No. 49

List AF, Respondent No. 97

List AF, Respondent No. 103

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