Organizing Institutions:
Heinz von Foerster Gesellschaft / Wien
ASC – American Society for Cybernetics
WISDOM – Wiener Institut für
  sozialwissenschaftliche Dokumentation und Methodik
Institut für Zeitgeschichte | Universität Wien
AINS – Austrian Institute for Nonlinear Studies

Gerard ‘t Hooft

Quantum mechanics from classical logic

Spinoza Institute and University of Utrecht,
The Netherlands

Various classical systems are discussed that can be approached with standard statistical methods. It is shown how quantum mechanical procedures can be applied to such systems to study features such as large-distance behavior. As a result, one finds that the time evolution of its large distance correlations can be written in terms of rigorously quantum mechanical Schroedinger equations. One concludes that even though the dynamical laws are classical, the probability distributions are described by quantum states, showing quantum entanglement. These quantum states violate Bell's inequalities. The suspicion that our universe is also described by such a classical, deterministic underlying theory leads to a natural interpretation of quantum mechanics.

 

Curriculum Vitae:

Born July 5, 1946, Den Helder, The Netherlands
High School: Gymnasium-beta at the Dalton Lyceum, The Hague, 1964.

Further education:
Physics and Mathematics at the University of Utrecht.
Kandidaatsexamen N1, July 4, 1966.
Doctoraal examen Theoretical Physics, October 10, 1969.
Promotie (Ph.D. thesis) on the subject ``Renormalization Procedure for Yang-Mills fields'', March 1, 1972.

Professions:
Various part time jobs as a student-assistant at Utrecht University from October 1, 1965.
From November 1, 1969 full time staff member at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Utrecht University.
September 1, 1972-September 1, 1974: fellow at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
Then became Lector (Assistant professor) at Utrecht University.
February 1, 1976-June 30, 1976: Morris Loeb Lecturer at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., USA.
September 1, 1976-February 1, 1977: SLAC, Stanford, Calif., USA.
From February 2, 1977: full professor at Utrecht University. From 2003 this position was turned into a Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW) position.
January 17-June 13, 1981: Sherman Fairchield Distinguished Scholar, Caltech, Pasadena, Calif., USA.
Guest professor of Boston University (1988) and Duke University, Durham NC, USA (1989).
Simon Stevin Leerstoel, Antwerpen, Belgium.
In addition various shorter appointments.

Further activities:
Scientific editor-in-chief of the Teleac course ``Van Quantum tot Quark'', Inleiding tot de Quantummechanica: golven en deeltjes (1989).
Associate Editor Nuclear Physics B: Particle Physics.
Fachbeirat of the Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert Einstein Institut, 1997-2005)
Visiting Fellow Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) (2005)
Chief Editor of Foundations of Physics (from 1-1-07)
Scientific Policy Committee, CERN Geneva, member since January 2008
Advisory Board, Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Munich,
Scientific Advisory Committee, Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Memberships: (among others)
Nederlandse Natuurkundige Vereniging, 1978 (honorary member 2000).
Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie voor Wetenschappen (Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences), 26-4-82.
Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België (Foreign Member), 17-12-81.
Hollandsche Maatschappij der wetenschappen, 14-5-83.
National Academy of Sciences (USA), Foreign Associate, 1984.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Honorary Member, 14-5-86.
Académie des Sciences, Paris, Associé étranger, 1995
Institute of Physics (London), Fellow and Chartered Physicist, 2000.

Other honours:
16-11-63: 2e Prijs Nationale Wiskunde Olympiade.
24-10-74: Winkler Prins Prijs, Amsterdam.
11- 2-77: Akzo Prijs, Arnhem.
30- 1-79: Dannie Heineman Prize, New York, USA.
6- 4-81: Leigh Page Prize Lecturer, Yale, USA
15-12-81: Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Chicago, Ill, USA
21- 3-82: Wolf Prize of the State of Israel
12-11-83: Pius XI Medal, Vatican.
24-11-86: Lorentz Medal, KNAW, Amsterdam.
21- 4-95: Physica Prize, NNV, Utrecht.
4- 5-95: Franklin Medal, Philadelphia, USA.
June 1995: Spinoza Premium, Neth. Organization for Scientific Research NWO.
2- 2-96: Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Leuven, Belgium.
21-11-97: The Gian Carlo Wick Commemorative Medal, World Federation of Scientists, Lausanne, Switzerland
10-10-98: Honorary Doctorate at the University of Bologna, Italy.
1- 6-99: The Oskar Klein Lecture, Oskar Klein Silver Medal, Royal Academy of Sweden, Stockholm.
19- 7-99: The 1999 High Energy Physics Prize, from the European Physical Society, presented at the International Europhysics Conference at Tampere, Finland.

10-12-99: The 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics, with M. Veltman, awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm.
Citation: "For elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics".

And now, a series:
14-10-99: Commandeur in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw.
(K.B. 14 oktober 1999 nr. 99.004738 ) See the video presentation of this event.
25-10-99: De Zilveren Academiepenning, from the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, KNAW.
13-3-2000: Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics at Singapore.
17-3-2000: Honorary member of the Nederlandse Natuurkundige Vereniging.
April 2000: Asteroid # 9491 is henceforth named 9491 Thooft.
11-5-2000: Honorary Doctor of the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian University, Republic of Kazakhstan
with K. Von Klitzing and V. Sadovnichy, Rector M. Lomonosov Moscow State Univ.

12-5-2000: Honorary Medal of the City of Astana, Kazakhstan.
9-2-2001: Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, awarded by the Ambassador of France at the Hague, Anne Gazeau-Secret.
30-4-2001: Honorary Degree of Doctor Scientiae, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, S.A.
20-5-2001: Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Hofstra University (NY)
29-11-2001: Doctorat de Science Honoris Causa, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille.
24-6-2002: Honorary Professor, Nanjing University, China.
14-12-2003: Doctor of Science, honoris causa, The Ohio State University at Columbus.
27-7-2004: Honorary Doctor Degree, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei
30-7-2004: Honorary Professor at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
29-12-2005: Honorary Fellow of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India.
26-5-2006: Honorary Doctor Degree, University of Salamanca, Spain. With Enrique Iglesias, Secretario General Iberoamericano.
27-11-2006: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Award, Tokyo, "in recognition of his internationally acclaimed research activities."
29-1- 2011: Erice Prize 2009 ("Ettore Majorana Prize - Erice - Science for Peace"). Here is the full citation.