CENTERLEO APOSTEL 

Vrije Universiteit Brussel 
 

Diederik Aerts

(personal homepage: http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/aerts/)

  • Director Centre "Leo Apostel" (CLEA) and FUND at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel
  • Editor-in-Chief of Foundations of Science
  • Secretary of the International Quantum Structures Association
  • Secretary of AFOS (Association for the Foundations of Science, Language and Cognition)
    • Address
    CLEA, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B - 1050 Brussel
    Phone
    +32-2/644 26 77
    Fax
    +32-2/644 04 77
    E-Mail
    diraerts@vub.ac.be
    DIEDERIK AERTS has been researching since 1976, as a theoretical physicist, the foundations of physics, and more specifically the axiomatic structure of quantum mechanics. He received his PhD at the University of Geneva in 1981 with a thesis in the domain of theoretical physics, but was even then actively involved in the interdisciplinary research activities of Jean Piaget. When he returned to Belgium in 1990, he became one of the founding members of the interdisciplinary, interuniversity research group 'World Views', an initiative of the philosopher Leo Apostel. This group of researchers examines the possible integration of the different, fragmented domains of reality. More specifically, 'Worldviews' proposes an explicit construction of worldviews, based on the hypotheses that a worldview has the following aspects: (1) a model of the world, (2) an evaluation-code, (3) an action-theory, (4) a futurology and (5) a model for model-construction.

    Diederik Aerts's main research concerns the nature of reality, taking into account the recent results of theoretical and experimental physics. He comes to the conclusion that the typical quantum mechanical effect of the observer on the observed can be understood by using a model where one assumes there is lack of knowledge about the precise interaction that takes place during the measurement. This means that it is possible to use the quantum mechanical structure in situations that exhibit this effect of the observer on the observed. Aerts has elaborated this theme and its consequences for the subject-object relation. He has proposed a model, the epsilon-model, that can incorporate this effect. (publication 3) More recently he has directed his attention towards the construction of a general interactive calculus (publication 4), that can be used for the concrete modeling of the interaction science-society and government. These ideas, among others, have been put forward in his popular science book: "De muze van het leven" (publication 7, translation in progress).

    Diederik Aerts has more than 80 scientific publications in international journals and books. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Foundations of Science, which is published by Kluwer Academic. He is a member of the council of the International Quantum Structures Association, AFOS  (Association for the Foundations of Science, Language and Cognition), and a council member of the VZW Worldviews. He was the scientific and artistic coordinator of the huge international and interdisciplinary conference Einstein meets Magritte, that took place at the Free University of Brussels in 1995, and has participated in the organization of various workshops and symposia on the foundations of physics.

    Selected publications:

    1. D.  Aerts, Description of many physical entities without the paradoxes encountered in quantum mechanics, Found. Phys., 12 (1982), 1131-1170.
    2. D. Aerts, A possible explanation for the probabilities of quantum mechanics, J. math. Phys. 27 (1986), 202-210.
    3. D. Aerts, The construction of reality and its influence on the understanding of quantum structures, Int. J. Theor. Phys., 31 (1992), 1815 - 1837.
    4. D. Aerts and S. Aerts  "Applications of Quantum Statistics in Psychological Studies of Decision-proceses" in Foundations of Science 1995 Vol 1, ndeg.1, pp 1-12
    5. AERTS, D., APOSTEL L., DE MOOR B., HELLEMANS S., MAEX E., VAN BELLE H., VAN DER VEKEN J., Worldviews: From Fragmentation to Integration, VUB Press, Brussels, 1994
    6. AERTS, D., APOSTEL, L., DE MOOR, B., HELLEMANS, S., MAEX, E., VAN BELLE, H., VAN DER VEKEN J., Perspectives on the World: an interdisciplinary reflection. VUB Press, Brussels, 1995.
    7. D. Aerts, De Muze van het Leven: quantum mechanica en de aard van de werkelijkheid, Pelckmans 1993.
    8. D. Aerts, Quantum structures  an attempt to explain their appearance in nature, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 34, (1995) 1165 - 1186.
    9. D. Aerts, Foundations of quantum physics: a general realistic and operational approach, To appear in International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 1999.