Louis de Broglie (1892-1987) - photo 1
Louis de Broglie (1892-1987) - photo 2

Louis de Broglie (1892-1987)

Starting price
£ 8 000
Auction dateClassic
09.12.2020 00:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 470131
Lot 60 | Louis de Broglie (1892-1987)
Louis de Broglie (1892-1987)

Letter to David Bohm. 29 March 1953

DE BROGLIE, Louis, duc de Broglie (1892-1987). Autograph letter signed ('Louis de Broglie') to [David Bohm], Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris, 29 March 1953.



In French. Four pages, 207 x 128 mm (few very light stains).



An important letter, defending the De Broglie-Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics against Einstein's criticisms, and discussing the differences between their own points of view, particularly as regards the physical existence of the ? wave. De Broglie anticipates the forthcoming visit by his assistant, Jean-Pierre Vigier, to Bohm in Sao Paulo, which he hopes will enrich their collaboration. 'I have naturally read with the greatest interest the little paper by Mr Einstein and your reply to his objection against our interpretation', expressing his qualified agreement with Bohm's argument: 'You know that our points of view are not altogether the same, as I do not believe in the physical existence of the ? wave which seems to me only a representation of probabilities with a rather subjective character: indeed, as soon as we are talking about more than one atom, the ? wave must be represented in the configuration space with more than 3 dimensions and its non-physical character seems to me absolutely obvious. It seems to me that a causal description of particles must necessarily be made in ordinary space (or rather in relativistic space-time) with the help of wave functions which are composed of a singularity. Only, as I showed as early as 1927 in my article in the Journal de Physique, the two points of view meet because everything occurs as if the particle-singularity was guided by the ? wave' (translation). De Broglie goes on to express his own detailed response to Einstein's critique of the De Broglie-Bohm theory over more than a page. The letter concludes with news of his current work ('I continue to study with Vigier and a few others these questions of causal interpretation') and of his forthcoming publications.



The De Broglie-Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics, sometimes known as the pilot wave theory, was initially developed by Louis de Broglie in 1927, before he was convinced to abandon it in favour of the prevailing Copenhagen interpretation: it was revived by David Bohm in 1952. De Broglie was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1929 for the discovery of the wave-like behaviour of matter. A victim of McCarthyism, Bohm was forced to leave the United States for Brazil in 1951; in later years, he investigated the relationship of consciousness and physics, composing some of the foundational texts of the philosophy of quantum consciousness. An important letter between two of the most significant physicists of the 20th century, discussing one of their major contributions to science.

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