A Brief History of the Misinterpretation of the Everett Interpretation

Abstract

In April of 1956, Hugh Everett III’s draft doctoral thesis, tentatively titled “Wave Mechanics without Probability”, was circulated by his thesis advisor at Princeton University John Wheeler to several leading physicists in the West, including the godfather of quantum mechanics Niels Bohr. Everett aimed at resolving the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. Everett’s solution to the mystery of how, when, where and why the wave function collapses in the measurement process was straightforward: it does not. Due to the opposition of Bohr and other adherents to the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics, an objection by Feynman and Wheeler’s growing ambivalence, Everett was required to abridge his thesis, resulting in the publication of “’Relative State’ Formulation of Quantum Mechanics” in July 1957. Everett’s machinery of interpretation, including his information and measure theoretic interpretation of the wave function, his concept of correlation within the superposition, as well as his philosophy of science which provides important context for his theory, are largely absent from the latter “Short Thesis”. Perhaps due to the unusual publication history of his works, many critics of Everett and even many of his supporters have overlooked the significance of the arguments made in the “Long Thesis”, which was published only in 1973. Everett’s fuller exposition there answers often cited criticisms such as Adrian Kent’s “Against Many Worlds Interpretations”. Other popular misconceptions about Everett, that he was driven out of academia or that his thesis was redacted due solely or primarily to the opposition from Copenhagen, do not stand up to careful scrutiny of the historical evidence.