The Role of Philosophy in Bohm and Hiley’s Research in Physics

The Role of Philosophy in Bohm and Hiley’s Research in Physics

with Basil Hiley interviewed by Petteri Limnell

Saturday August 20, 2022
9:00 PDT | 12:00 EDT | 17:00 BST  |  18:00 CEST

2-hour session

The session is live and you will be sent the RECORDING.

Basil Hiley worked with David Bohm for over 30 years. While their research focused on physics, philosophy played an important role in the discussions.  What was this role? In this session Petteri Limnell interviews Basil Hiley to find out.

To see the Full Beyond Bohm Program

Basil J. Hiley is a British quantum physicist and professor emeritus of the University of London. He received the Majorana Prize ‘Best Person in Physics’ in 2012. A long-time co-worker of David Bohm, Hiley is known for his work with Bohm on the implicate order and for his work on algebraic descriptions of quantum physics in terms of underlying symplectic and orthogonal Clifford algebras. Hiley co-authored the book The Undivided Universe with David Bohm, which is considered the main reference for Bohm’s interpretation of quantum theory.

The work of Bohm and Hiley has been characterized as primarily addressing the question ‘whether we can have an adequate conception of the reality of a quantum system, be this causal or be it stochastic or be it of any other nature’ and meeting the scientific challenge of providing a mathematical description of quantum systems that matches the idea of an implicate order.

In 1961 Hiley was appointed assistant lecturer at Birkbeck College, where Bohm had taken the chair of Theoretical Physics shortly before. Hiley wanted to investigate how physics could be based on a notion of process, and he found that David Bohm held similar ideas. He reports that during the seminars he held together with Roger Penrose he was particularly fascinated by John Wheeler’s ‘sum over three geometries’ ideas that he was using to quantize gravity.

Hiley worked with David Bohm for many years on fundamental problems of theoretical physics. Initially Bohm’s model of 1952 did not feature in their discussions; this changed when Hiley asked himself whether the ‘Einstein-Schrödinger equation,’ as Wheeler called it, might be found by studying the full implications of that model. They worked together closely for three decades. Together they wrote many publications, including the book The Undivided Universe: An Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Theory, published 1993, which is now considered the major reference for Bohm’s interpretation of quantum theory.

In 1995, Basil Hiley was appointed to the chair in physics at Birkbeck College at the University of London. He was awarded the 2012 Majorana Prize in the category The Best Person in Physics for the algebraic approach to quantum mechanics and furthermore in recognition of ‘his paramount importance as natural philosopher, his critical and open minded attitude towards the role of science in contemporary culture.’

Petteri Limnell lives in Pori, Finland. He was awarded his Master’s in philosophy in 2008, from the University of Tampere, Finland. The subject of his thesis was about the moment NOW—the ‘Analysis of the present Moment from the Perspectives of Physics, Metaphysics and Consciousness Studies.’ His BA thesis was about creativity: ‘Paul Feyerabend’sFarewell to Personal Creativity.’  Limnell teaches two ongoing courses at the Pori municipality Center, and has worked as a consultant, teacher, tutor and in-house philosopher at the Pori Art Museum. He also works for the Critical College of Finland and runs the Satakunta Critical College in Pori. I have been President of the Pori Philosophical Society for 11 years, since the very beginning. His main interests in philosophy relate to three of Popper’s ‘emergent’ worlds. Why and how do the universe, life and human beings and consciousness exist? It all ultimately culminates in Kant’s three questions: ‘What can I know?,’ ‘What should I do?,’ and ‘What can I hope for?’