P.W. Bridgman’s scientific contributions

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Publications (1)

How Much Rigor is Possible in Physics?
  • Article

December 1959

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25 Reads

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20 Citations

Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics

P.W. Bridgman

Rigor is essentially applied to reasoning. However, in extended meaning it implies sharpness and precision and has overtones of certainty. Considering the extended meaning of rigor, this chapter discusses to what extent, what is done in physics, can have the attributes of sharpness, precision, and certainty. All human enterprise is subject to one restriction, the possibility of self-doubt, on any attainable sharpness or certainty that is generally ubiquitous and unavoidable. There are certain human activities that have apparent perfect sharpness, such as the area of mathematics and logic. The physics of measurement and the laboratory does not have the yes-no sharpness of mathematics, but employs conventional mathematics as an indispensible tool.

Citations (1)

... Because each measurement ( and ) is recognized compatible with and traceable to the reference measurement , the compatibility between and could be drawn [615], i.e., By contrast, the measurements presented in the ideal example of case (a), see Figure 11.2 (right box), are compatible with each other and hold the transitivity property. The problem of 'weak' equivalence in measurement results (non-transitivity in general), and the paradoxes generated by concepts of 'compatibility' that are based on the VIM [384], are mainly rooted in the 'strict' mathematical formulation that does not fully recognize the differences between empirical data (or the world of empirical phenomena that happens in the laboratory [617]) and the world of symbolic expressions from the realm of mathematics (and logic) that is based in a language, par excellence, "far too precise for expressing experimental knowledge" [615]. In recent developments in the theory of measurement [615], it has been suggested that the conditions of 'compatibility' need to be relaxed by fuzzy logic and 'mutual recognition arrangement'. ...

Reference:

Studies of Dimensional Metrology with X-ray CAT Scan
How Much Rigor is Possible in Physics?
  • Citing Article

  • December 1959

Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics

P.W. Bridgman