Donald A. Graft
Donald A. Graft | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Local-realist critique of Bell-inequality tests of the EPRB experiment |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics (quantum foundations), Computer science |
Donald A. Graft is a researcher and author working on the foundations of quantum mechanics, known for arguing that the Bell inequality cannot be validly applied to Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm (EPRB) experiments and for developing local-realist models of those experiments. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
Graft has published a series of papers, principally in Physics Essays, challenging the standard interpretation of Bell-test experiments. In "The Bell inequality cannot be validly applied to the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm (EPRB) experiments" (Physics Essays 22, 534, 2009) he argues that the derivation of the Bell inequality does not apply to real EPRB experiments, so that experimental "violations" do not, in his view, establish quantum nonlocality or rule out local hidden variables. He continued this theme in "A local realist account of the Weihs, Jennewein, Simon, Weinfurter, and Zeilinger EPRB experiment" (Physics Essays 26(2), 214, 2013), and in a preprint, "Clauser–Horne/Eberhard inequality violation by a local model" (arXiv:1507.06231), in which he presents a local model intended to reproduce results usually taken as demonstrating nonlocality.
His positions run counter to the mainstream consensus, which holds that loophole-free Bell tests exclude local hidden-variable explanations. According to his research profile, Graft holds an MA in Philosophy and an MSc in Computer Science and worked as an engineer at STMicroelectronics before retiring.