David Ritz Finkelstein (born July 19, 1929, New York City) is currently an emeritus professor of physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Finkelstein obtained his Ph.D. in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1953. Later, from 1964 to 1976, he was professor of physics at Yeshiva University.
Much of Finkelstein's work concentrates on the relation between logic and physics, and quantum analogues of classical mathematical structures. In 1963 he proposed that anomalies of quantum mechanical measurement originate in anomalies of the logic that governs quantum mechanical systems. He proposed that dynamic systems are quantized by a fundamental space-time quantum dubbed a "chronon." This view was carried further by Hilary Putnam who argued that quantum logic was the correct logic that describes propositional reasoning generally. In a different direction, he has investigated ball lightning.
Finkelstein has also made contributions to general relativity. His mathematical work helped John Archibald Wheeler and other physicists accept the theoretical possibility of a black hole.
D. Finkelstein (1958). "Past-Future Asymmetry of the Gravitational Field of a Point Particle". Phys. Rev. 110: 965–967. doi:.
David Ritz Finkelstein (born July 19, 1929) is emeritus professor of physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His work concentrates on the relation between logic and physics, and quantum analogues of classical mathematical structures.
   | Finkelstein's home page - School of Physics: People : Professors : David Finkelstein |
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