physics

Olival Freire Jr.

Olival Freire Jr. is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olival Freire Jr. rather than just read about it. In short: Olival Freire Jr. (Jequié, 1954) is a physicist and historian of physics.

Key takeaways

Olival Freire Jr. belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olival Freire Jr. to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olival Freire Jr. from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Olival Freire Jr. (Jequié, 1954) is a physicist and historian of physics. He is Full Professor of Physics and History of Physics at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, former president of the Brazilian Society for the History of Science and president of the Commission for the History of Modern Physics, International Union of History and Philosophy of Science.

Education and career Freire Jr. studied electrical engineering for a year and a half at the Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) before, impressed by the lectures of physicist Benedito Pepe, he switched to physics. He wrote his master's thesis with Amelia Hambuger on interpretations of quantum physics, in particular the interpretation by Vladimir Fock, and subsequently wrote his Ph.D. thesis with Michel Paty and Shozo Montoyama on David Bohm's approach to quantum mechanics. He worked as post-doctoral researcher at the Université Paris VII, at Harvard University, and subsequently at the MIT. Freire Jr. is Associate Professor and Researcher II UFBA in the History of Science. He is also president of the Brazilian Society for the History of Science and vice-president of the Commission for the History of Modern Physics, International Union of History and Philosophy of Science. His current research covers especially also the history of science in Brazil.

Awards and honors In 2004, Freire Jr. was awarded a Senior Fellowship from the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, MIT, USA. In 2011, he was one of the winners of the Prêmio Jabuti in exact sciences for his book on Quantum theory: historical studies and cultural implications.

Publications Olival Freire Jr.: "A story without an ending: the quantum physics controversy 1950–1970", Science & Education, vol. 12, pp. 573–586, 2003 Olival Freire Jr.: "Science and Exile: David Bohm, the Hot Times of the Cold War, and His Struggle for a New Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics", Historical Studies on the Physical and Biological Sciences, vol. 36, no. 1, 2005, pp. 31–35 Olival Freire: David Bohm e a controvérsia dos quanta. Coleção CLE, Volume 27. Campinas : UNICAMP, Centro de Lógica, Epistemologia e História da Ciência, 1999, 244 p. ISSN 0103-3247 Olival Freire Jr.: "David Bohm e as controvérsias do mundo dos Quanta". Ciência Hoje, março de 2001, p. 35 Olival Freire Jr.: L'interprétation de la mécanique quantique selon Paul Langevin, La Pensée, 1993 (Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics according to Paul Langevin). Olival Freire Jr.: The quantum dissidents: rebuilding the foundations of quantum mechanics (1950-1990). Springer, 2014.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olival Freire Jr.

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olival Freire Jr. claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olival Freire Jr. before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olival Freire Jr. ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olival Freire Jr.

In research: Olival Freire Jr. appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olival Freire Jr. in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olival Freire Jr. is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century Brazilian historians, 20th-century Brazilian physicists, Academic staff of the Federal University of Bahia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olival Freire Jr. outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Olival Freire Jr. in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olival Freire Jr. means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olival Freire Jr. out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olival Freire Jr. in simple terms?

Olival Freire Jr. (Jequié, 1954) is a physicist and historian of physics.

Why does Olival Freire Jr. matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olival Freire Jr.?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olival Freire Jr..