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The Hanneke Janssen memorial prize paper 2010
Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 42 (2011) 213
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/shpsb
The Hanneke Janssen memorial prize paper 2010
1. The Hanneke Janssen memorial prize Hanneke Janssen died in 2008 in a tragic traffic accident at the age of 26. Shortly before, she had graduated obtaining a Master’s degree in theoretical physics at Radboud University in Nijmegen, with the distinction Cum Laude, and was about to start a promising academic career. Her outstanding Master Thesis, devoted to the decoherence approach in the interpretation of quantum theory and entitled ‘‘Reconstructing Reality’’ (Janssen, 2008), was posthumously awarded the Cushing Memorial Prize 2009. Many readers, authors and referees for this journal will also remember Hanneke as the Managing Editor for Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, a job she held for 2 years and in which she performed with great competence, accuracy, and grace. Further, Hanneke impressed all those who had the fortune to know her more closely by her personality, social engagement, sense of responsibility, wide-ranging talents, modesty, and her sense of insecurity of whether she would be able to match the high standards she set for herself. In 2009, the Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize was established by colleagues, family, and friends of Hanneke. This Prize, administered by the the University Fund of Radboud University is to be awarded yearly for the best essay written by a Master’s student on the subject of the history and/or philosophy of modern physics. The prize is intended to honor Hanneke’s work, talents and personality by offering a recognition and encouragement for Master’s students, throughout the world, working on this broad topic. Part of the stipulations of the Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize is an invitation to submit an paper, based on the prize-winning Thesis, to this Journal.
2. The Hanneke Janssen prize paper 2010 After a wide call for nominations in 2010, the Jury, consisting of Christoph Lehner (Berlin), Michiel Seevinck (Nijmegen) and Jos Uffink (Utrecht), unanimously decided to award the first Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize to Ronnie Hermens for his Master’s Thesis entitled ‘‘Quantum Mechanics: From Realism to Intuitionism’’, submitted to Radboud University (Hermens, 2010). The jury
1355-2198/$ - see front matter & 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2011.10.001
report particularly praised this Thesis for its analysis of and novel contributions to the debate surrounding the Meyer–Kent–Clifton finite precision arguments on non-contextual hidden variable theories and the original and refreshing discussion of the so-called ‘free will’ theorem by Conway and Kochen. The editors are proud to present, in this issue, the paper that Ronnie Hermens wrote on the basis of his prize-winning Thesis, entitled ‘‘The problem of contextuality and the impossibility of experimental metaphysics thereof’’ (Hermens, 2011). We hope this paper will be the the first of a longstanding tradition in this Journal of encouraging future young scholars in our field by the invitation to submit a paper in connection with this Prize.
3. Call for nominations for 2011 Apart from introducing Hermens’ article, the editors would also like to take the opportunity to announce the call for nominations for the Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize for 2011. For details and stipulations, please visit the website http://www. ru.nl/snuf/voorzieningen/hanneke-janssen/. References Hermens, R. (2010). Quantum mechanics: From realism to intuitionism. /http:// philsci-archive.pitt.edu/5021S; /http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.1410S. Hermens, R. (2011). The problem of contextuality and the impossibility of experimental metaphysics thereof. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 42(4), 58–69. Janssen, H. (2008). Reconstructing reality: Environment-induced decoherence, the measurement problem, and the emergence of definiteness in quantum mechanics. /http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/4224/S.
J. Uffink Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] Received 28 July 2011
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/shpsb
The Hanneke Janssen memorial prize paper 2010
1. The Hanneke Janssen memorial prize Hanneke Janssen died in 2008 in a tragic traffic accident at the age of 26. Shortly before, she had graduated obtaining a Master’s degree in theoretical physics at Radboud University in Nijmegen, with the distinction Cum Laude, and was about to start a promising academic career. Her outstanding Master Thesis, devoted to the decoherence approach in the interpretation of quantum theory and entitled ‘‘Reconstructing Reality’’ (Janssen, 2008), was posthumously awarded the Cushing Memorial Prize 2009. Many readers, authors and referees for this journal will also remember Hanneke as the Managing Editor for Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, a job she held for 2 years and in which she performed with great competence, accuracy, and grace. Further, Hanneke impressed all those who had the fortune to know her more closely by her personality, social engagement, sense of responsibility, wide-ranging talents, modesty, and her sense of insecurity of whether she would be able to match the high standards she set for herself. In 2009, the Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize was established by colleagues, family, and friends of Hanneke. This Prize, administered by the the University Fund of Radboud University is to be awarded yearly for the best essay written by a Master’s student on the subject of the history and/or philosophy of modern physics. The prize is intended to honor Hanneke’s work, talents and personality by offering a recognition and encouragement for Master’s students, throughout the world, working on this broad topic. Part of the stipulations of the Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize is an invitation to submit an paper, based on the prize-winning Thesis, to this Journal.
2. The Hanneke Janssen prize paper 2010 After a wide call for nominations in 2010, the Jury, consisting of Christoph Lehner (Berlin), Michiel Seevinck (Nijmegen) and Jos Uffink (Utrecht), unanimously decided to award the first Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize to Ronnie Hermens for his Master’s Thesis entitled ‘‘Quantum Mechanics: From Realism to Intuitionism’’, submitted to Radboud University (Hermens, 2010). The jury
1355-2198/$ - see front matter & 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2011.10.001
report particularly praised this Thesis for its analysis of and novel contributions to the debate surrounding the Meyer–Kent–Clifton finite precision arguments on non-contextual hidden variable theories and the original and refreshing discussion of the so-called ‘free will’ theorem by Conway and Kochen. The editors are proud to present, in this issue, the paper that Ronnie Hermens wrote on the basis of his prize-winning Thesis, entitled ‘‘The problem of contextuality and the impossibility of experimental metaphysics thereof’’ (Hermens, 2011). We hope this paper will be the the first of a longstanding tradition in this Journal of encouraging future young scholars in our field by the invitation to submit a paper in connection with this Prize.
3. Call for nominations for 2011 Apart from introducing Hermens’ article, the editors would also like to take the opportunity to announce the call for nominations for the Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize for 2011. For details and stipulations, please visit the website http://www. ru.nl/snuf/voorzieningen/hanneke-janssen/. References Hermens, R. (2010). Quantum mechanics: From realism to intuitionism. /http:// philsci-archive.pitt.edu/5021S; /http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.1410S. Hermens, R. (2011). The problem of contextuality and the impossibility of experimental metaphysics thereof. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 42(4), 58–69. Janssen, H. (2008). Reconstructing reality: Environment-induced decoherence, the measurement problem, and the emergence of definiteness in quantum mechanics. /http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/4224/S.
J. Uffink Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] Received 28 July 2011