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SUMMARY:The inconsistency of quantum electrodynamics: a history - Alex Blu
 m (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science)
DTSTART:20160525T120000Z
DTEND:20160525T133000Z
UID:TALK65718@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:31287
DESCRIPTION:Renormalized quantum field theories form the basis of the Stan
 dard Model of Particle Physics\, an enormously successful microscopic theo
 ry of physical nature. Yet\, the 1970s and 1980s saw what has been called 
 by \nsome historians and philosophers of physics a veritable paradigm shif
 t\, namely the emergence of the view that such theories should merely be r
 egarded as approximate effective field theories\, possibly to be \nreplace
 d by some underlying theory at very high energies. The talk will deal with
  the question of how this widespread distrust of our "best" physical theor
 ies came about\, focusing on the  prehistory of the effective field theory
  paradigm\, in particular on the attempts by prominent physicists\, such a
 s Wolfgang Pauli and Lev Landau\, to prove that renormalized quantum elect
 rodynamics is an inconsistent theory. The expectations of a fundamental ph
 ysical theory underlying these \nattempts will be investigated.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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