John Wheeler's Course, Theory of Measurement, 1977--1978

John Wheeler arrived at the University of Texas at Austin in 1976. A year later he introduced a new graduate seminar, "Theory of Measurement," which, in addition to covering well-established topics such as the Wigner-Araki-Yanase theorem, also addressed more speculative concepts such as backward-in-time causation. Students were encouraged to try out their own ideas toward resolving some of the questions raised by quantum theory. This course, mentioned in David Kaiser’s book, How the Hippies Saved Physics, provides an example of imaginative thinking about foundational issues within the mainstream physics community in the 1970’s.