The Physicist's Conception of Nature

1 Development of the physicist's conception of nature.- I Space, Time, and Geometry.- 2 The universe as a whole.- 3 A chapter in the astrophysicist's view of the universe.- 4 Fundamental constants and their development in time.- 5 The expanding earth.- 6 The nature and structure of spacetime.- 7 Einstein, Hilbert, and the theory of gravitation.- 8 Theory of gravitation.- 9 From relativity to mutability.- II Quantum Theory.- 10 The wave-particle dilemma.- 11 Development of concepts in the history of quantum theory.- 12 From matrix mechanics and wave mechanics to unified quantum mechanics.- 13 Early years of quantum mechanics: some reminiscences.- 14 The mathematical structure of elementary quantum mechanics.- 15 Relativistic equations in quantum mechanics.- 16 The electron: development of the first elementary particle theory.- 17 The development of quantum field theory.- 18 Quantum theory of fields (until 1947).- 19 Development of quantum electrodynamics.- 20 A report on quantum electrodynamics.- 21 Progress in renormalization theory since 1949.- 22 Some concepts in current elementary particle physics.- 23 Crucial experiments on discrete symmetries.- 24 Superconductivity and superfluidity.- III Statistical Description of Nature.- 25 Problems of statistical physics.- 26 Phase transitions.- 27 Approach to thermodynamic equilibrium (and other stationary states).- 28 Kinetic approach to non-equilibrium phenomena.- 29 Time, irreversibility and structure.- 30 The origin of biological information.- IV Physical Description, Epistemology, and Philosophy.- 31 Classical and quantum descriptions.- 32 Wavefunction and observer in the quantum theory.- 33 The problem of measurement in quantum mechanics.- 34 Subject and object.- 35 Subject, object, and measurement.- 36 Measurement process and the macroscopic level of quantum mechanics.- 37 Why a new approach to found quantum theory?.- 38 A process conception of nature.- 39 Quantum logic and non-separability.- 40 Physics and philosophy.- V Memorial Lectures.- 41 Recollections of Lord Rutherford.- 42 W. Pauli's scientific work.- 43 Remarks on Enrico Fermi.- VI Celebration of P.A.M. Dirac's 70th Birthday.- 44 The banquet of the symposium - in honour of Paul Dirac, including an address on: The classical mind.- Appendix 1 Programme of the symposium.- Appendix 2 Participants.- Index of names.