Genesis of Karl Popper's EPR-Like Experiment and its Resonance amongst the Physics Community in the 1980s

TL;DR

This paper reconstructs Karl Popper's development of a new EPR-like experiment in the 1980s, highlighting his early contributions and the experiment's impact on quantum foundations debates.

Contribution

It uncovers the detailed genesis of Popper's EPR-like experiment and his active role in quantum foundations during the 1980s, based on unpublished correspondence.

Findings

Popper formulated his EPR-like experiment two years before publication.

The experiment stimulated significant debate in the physics community.

Popper's involvement influenced discussions on quantum interpretations.

Abstract

I present the reconstruction of the involvement of Karl Popper in the community of physicists concerned with foundations of quantum mechanics, in the 1980s. At that time Popper gave active contribution to the research in physics, of which the most significant is a new version of the EPR thought experiment, alleged to test different interpretations of quantum mechanics. The genesis of such an experiment is reconstructed in detail, and an unpublished letter by Popper is reproduced in the present paper to show that he formulated his thought experiment already two years before its first publication in 1982. The debate stimulated by the proposed experiment as well as Popper's role in the physics community throughout 1980s is here analysed in detail by means of personal correspondence and publications.