The Bohr/Einstein debate over quantum mechanics: who won?

How does science work? And what's all this about quantum mechanics?

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Philosophy Explorer
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The Bohr/Einstein debate over quantum mechanics: who won?

Post by Philosophy Explorer »

Starting in 1927, those two great minds had a debate over the correctness of quantum mechanics. Einstein came up with several thought experiments to which Neils Bohr responded to. It's been suggested that Einstein may have won if he had used spooky-action-at-a-distance. So you decide. Who actually won the debate? (the internet has several articles)

PhilX
Ginkgo
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Re: The Bohr/Einstein debate over quantum mechanics: who won

Post by Ginkgo »

Philosophy Explorer wrote:Starting in 1927, those two great minds had a debate over the correctness of quantum mechanics. Einstein came up with several thought experiments to which Neils Bohr responded to. It's been suggested that Einstein may have won if he had used spooky-action-at-a-distance. So you decide. Who actually won the debate? (the internet has several articles)

PhilX
If you have a bit of a google and look at Bell's theorem it tells us that Einstein was probably wrong. It is highly likely there are no hidden variables.
uwot
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Re: The Bohr/Einstein debate over quantum mechanics: who won

Post by uwot »

What struck me was that Bohr always insisted that Einstein explain how his thought experiments would work in practise; when that was analysed it turned out that Einstein had overlooked some fine detail. Reading through made me realise that Heisenberg's uncertainty was more than a mathematical quirk. Can't remember why, something to do with springs and photons.
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