David Hilbert between mechanical and electromagnetic reductionism (1910-1915) (Q1284155)

This article, which is largely based on unpublished manuscripts of Hilbert's lectures, is a detailed account of Hilbert's work in theoretical physics between 1910 and 1915. Special attention is given to Hilbert's work on radiation theory and on his views about the structure of matter. The author convincingly argues that Hilbert's work on physics during these years was closely connected with his program for axiomatization formulated in 1900. Following step by step the evaluation of Hilbert's thought, it is shown how Hilbert, whose early interest in physics was dominated by the belief in the possibility of reducing all physical phenomena to mechanical processes, gave up this strict mechanical reductionistic position in favor of an electromagnetic one. In 1913, stimulated by the electromagnetic theory of matter developed by Gustav Mie, Hilbert suggested that ``die theoretische Physik schließlich ganz und gar in der Elektrodynamik aufgeht'', and he optimistically declared that it would be desirable to explain even gravitation by the electromagnetic field and Maxwell's equations. In his unified foundational theory of physics of 1915, which combined elements from Einstein's and Mie's theories, gravitation became more fundamental, and he suggested that electromagnetic phenomena are an effect of gravitation. By 1924, Hilbert's confidence in his unified theory as an overall foundation of physics had considerably diminished, and in later versions of the theory, he changed many of his early formulations. According to the author, it is typical of Hilbert's untroubled optimism that in his papers published after 1920, he never mentioned his earlier, now discarded views.