Myth-Historical Quantum Erasure

Abstract

An unhappy complaint by celebrated Irish physicist John Stuart Bell, who challenged an unchecked quantum orthodoxy, opens Chapter 2. At first his quote seems little more than a disgruntled student blowing off steam. Closer examination reveals much higher stakes. This chapter probes Bell’s frustrations toward his physics training at Queen’s University Belfast in the late 1940s. He complained bitterly about an entrenched quantum orthodoxy supported by canonical narratives that took hold in the early 1930s and continued to dominate the field for decades. The orthodox quantum interpretation eventually became synonymous with the city of Copenhagen and was used widely in the international physics community to filter out unwanted alternate interpretations, shut down interpretational debate, and promote a pragmatically productive culture of scientific consensus.