Popper's Experiment

Popper's experiment is an experiment proposed by the philosopher Karl Popper. As early as 1934 he was suspicious of, and was proposing experiments to test, the Copenhagen interpretation, a popular subjectivist interpretation of quantum mechanics. Popper's experiment is a realization of an argument similar in spirit to the thought experiment of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (the EPR paradox) although not as well known.

There are various interpretations of quantum mechanics that do not agree with each other. Despite their differences, they are experimentally nearly indistinguishable from each other. The most widely known interpretation of quantum mechanics is the Copenhagen interpretation put forward by Niels Bohr. It says that observations lead to a wavefunction collapse, thereby suggesting the counter-intuitive result that two well separated, non-interacting systems require action-at-a-distance. Popper argued that such non-locality conflicts with common sense, and also with what was known at the time from astronomy and the "technical success of physics." "hey all suggest the reality of time and the exclusion of action at a distance." While Einstein's EPR argument involved a thought experiment, Popper proposed a physical experiment to test for such action-at-a-distance.

Read more about Popper's Experiment:  Popper's Proposed Experiment, The Debate, Realization of Popper's Experiment, Criticism of Popper's Proposal, Popper's Experiment & Ghost Diffraction, Popper's Experiment and Faster-than-light Signalling, See Also

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