5th International Conference on the History of Quantum Physics - HQ-5 

Call For Papers

The centenary of quantum mechanics and the United Nations International Year of Quantum Science and Technology provide an ideal opportunity to revive the influential “HQ” series of conferences on the History of Quantum Physics, initiated by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. Previous meetings were held in Berlin (2007, 2010), Utrecht (2008), and Donostia/San Sebastian (2015). These meetings helped reinvigorate the community of quantum historians. They contributed to a surge of scholarship on the history of quantum physics and to historical narratives that explore scientific practices and concepts within their rich social, cultural, and political contexts.

The HQ-5 will be held in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, immediately after the 6th Early-Career Conference for Historians of the Physical Sciences of the American Institute of Physics (August 4–-9, 2025), which will also take place there. By linking these two events, we aim to foster interaction between different generations of historians of physics and encourage new studies on the history of quantum physics and its associated technologies.

We invite contributions on the history of quantum physics, broadly understood, encompassing the history of quantum foundations, quantum technology, quantum field theory, and subdisciplines of physics and related fields (including but not limited to particle physics, condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, quantum gravity, or quantum chemistry). We welcome submissions that approach these topics from a wide range of perspectives. Particular attention will be given to the following themes:

●   The genesis of quantum mechanics ca. 1925–1927;

●   Theoretical, mathematical, and experimental practices of quantum physics;

●   Quantum technology, instrumentation, and material culture of quantum physics;

●   Knowledge circulation and the adoption of quantum theory and quantum mechanics in diverse national and disciplinary contexts;

●   Women in the history of quantum physics;

●   Quantum physics, policy, and diplomacy.

●   Historical perspectives on the centenary of quantum mechanics;

Please send an abstract of up to 500 words via this submission form (https://forms.gle/mvT9geUYEXshUwBQ7) no later than February 10, 2025.

Supplementary travel funds will be available for early-career scholars and other participants who lack institutional funds to cover travel expenses.

All questions may be directed to the conference committee at hq-5@iuchpp.org

Organization:

Federal University of Bahia (UFBA)

American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Niels Bohr Archive

Inter-Union Commission for the History and Philosophy of Physics (IUCHPP) 

Sponsors: