https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-025-00107-9
Oral History Interview
Theoretical discovery, experiment, and controversy in the Aharonov-Bohm effect: an oral history interview
1
Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel-Aviv University, 69978, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2
Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University, CA 92866, Orange, USA
3
Department of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Israel, 4353701, Ra’anana, Israel
Received:
21
May
2025
Accepted:
28
July
2025
Published online:
1
September
2025
This oral history interview provides Yakir Aharonov’s perspective on the theoretical discovery of the Aharonov-Bohm effect in 1959, during his PhD studies in Bristol with David Bohm, the reception of the effect, the efforts to test it empirically (up to Tonomura’s experiment), and some of the debates regarding the existence of the effect and its interpretation. The interview also discusses related later developments until the 1980s, including modular momentum and Berry’s phase. It includes recollections from meetings with Werner Heisenberg, Richard Feynman, and Chen-Ning Yang, also mentioning John Bell, Robert Chambers, Werner Ehrenberg, Sir Charles Frank, Wendell Furry, Gunnar Källén, Maurice Pryce, Nathan Rosen, John Wheeler, and Eugene Wigner.
© The Author(s) 2025
corrected publication 2025
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