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CATEGORIES:CamPoS (Cambridge Philosophy of Science) seminar
SUMMARY:The inconsistency of quantum electrodynamics: a hi
 story - Alex Blum (Max Planck Institute for the Hi
 story of Science)
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20160525T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20160525T143000
UID:TALK65718AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/65718
DESCRIPTION:Renormalized quantum field theories form the basis
  of the Standard Model of Particle Physics\, an en
 ormously successful microscopic theory of physical
  nature. Yet\, the 1970s and 1980s saw what has be
 en called by \nsome historians and philosophers of
  physics a veritable paradigm shift\, namely the e
 mergence of the view that such theories should mer
 ely be regarded as approximate effective field the
 ories\, possibly to be \nreplaced by some underlyi
 ng theory at very high energies. The talk will dea
 l with the question of how this widespread distrus
 t of our "best" physical theories came about\, foc
 using on the  prehistory of the effective field th
 eory paradigm\, in particular on the attempts by p
 rominent physicists\, such as Wolfgang Pauli and L
 ev Landau\, to prove that renormalized quantum ele
 ctrodynamics is an inconsistent theory. The expect
 ations of a fundamental physical theory underlying
  these \nattempts will be investigated.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philoso
 phy of Science
CONTACT:
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