{"id":573157,"date":"2026-01-21T16:09:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=573157"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:10:56","slug":"david-bohm-a-rebellious-physicist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/david-bohm-a-rebellious-physicist\/","title":{"rendered":"David Bohm, a rebellious physicist"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October 1951, American physicist David Joseph Bohm (1917\u20131992) left the United States for Brazil to take up a position as professor and researcher in the then Department of Physics at the School of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2014later to become the USP Institute of Physics (IF-USP). But he did not come happily. His departure was, in effect, an escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story of David Bohm is the story of McCarthyism and the persecution of Robert Oppenheimer\u2019s [1904\u20131967] former students,\u201d summarizes physicist and historian Olival Freire Junior, from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), author of the biography David Bohm: A Life Dedicated to Understanding the Quantum World<\/em> (Springer, 2019).<\/p>\n

Oppenheimer had wanted to hire Bohm for the Manhattan Project, which he directed, but Bohm was vetoed because of his political activities at the University of California, Berkeley. The Manhattan Project was the secret US program to build the first atomic bombs. Bohm\u2019s hypotheses about the collision of atomic particles proved useful in the development of the nuclear weapons that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.<\/p>\n

Bohm was already well known in the field of quantum mechanics, but he became a target of the anticommunist campaign led by Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908\u20131957). In May 1949, summoned to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating allegations of espionage, he refused to answer questions about his political beliefs.<\/p>\n

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Mark Edwards \/ American Institute of Physics <\/span>Portrait of Bohm in the late 1980s, in LondonMark Edwards \/ American Institute of Physics <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A member of the Communist Party since 1942, Bohm invoked the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and remained silent. Although acquitted, he lost his position at Princeton University, where he had been a colleague of Albert Einstein (1879\u20131955).<\/p>\n

The political climate in the United States was increasingly threatening, culminating in the 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (1918\u20131953, 1915\u20131953), accused of passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Given these circumstances, Bohm\u2019s friends mobilized to help him leave the country. He was regarded as one of the most brilliant physicists of his generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrazilian graduate students at Princeton\u2014Jayme Tiomno [1920\u20132011], Jos\u00e9 Leite Lopes [1918\u20132006], and Walter Sch\u00fctzer [1922\u20131963]\u2014invited him to go to S\u00e3o Paulo after Princeton chose not to renew his contract,\u201d says Freire Jr. Einstein himself wrote a letter of recommendation to the director of USP\u2019s Physics Department, Abrah\u00e3o de Moraes (1917\u20131970). In May 1952, Einstein also wrote a letter of support for his young colleague addressed to President Get\u00falio Vargas (1882\u20131954), to be delivered in case of any political trouble\u2014though it ultimately was not needed.<\/p>\n

The trip to Brazil was tense from the beginning, according to British physicist Francis David Peat (1938\u20132017) in his book Infinite Potential: The Life and Times of David Bohm<\/em> (Addison-Wesley, 1996). Bohm feared he would be arrested when the plane, already preparing for takeoff, was ordered back to the terminal because of an irregularity in one of the passengers\u2019 passports. To his relief, the problem was with someone else.<\/p>\n

In S\u00e3o Paulo, no one was waiting for him at the airport. He had sent a telegram to USP with his arrival time but had forgotten to address it to the Physics Department. Not knowing a word of Portuguese, he set out in search of a hotel. The next day, he managed to find Tiomno, who arranged for him to stay in a boarding house on Avenida Ang\u00e9lica. This marked the beginning of a period that would leave a lasting mark on both the life of the exiled scientist and the history of Brazilian science.<\/p>\n

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Jayme Tiomno archive<\/span>Princeton, March 1949: kneeling, Herv\u00e1sio de Carvalho, Jos\u00e9 Leite Lopes, and Jayme Tiomno; standing, C\u00e9sar Lattes, Hideki Yukawa, and Walter Sch\u00fctzerJayme Tiomno archive<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Responsible for translating the correspondence between Bohm and Einstein, Freire Jr. recounts that upon arriving in Brazil, the young exile wrote to his friend in an optimistic tone: \u201cThe university is quite disorganized, but that won\u2019t hinder the study of theoretical physics. There are several good students here, with whom it will be good to work.\u201d Some of these students would go on to become leading figures in Brazilian physics, such as the couple Ernst and Am\u00e9lia Hamburger (1933\u20132018, 1932\u20132011), Moys\u00e9s Nussenzveig (1922\u20132022), Newton Bernardes (1931\u20132007), and Ewa Cybulska (1929\u20132021). Bohm taught theoretical physics in Portuguese in 1953 and quantum mechanics in 1954.<\/p>\n

His mood changed over time. In letters to friends, he complained that Brazil was \u201can extremely backward and primitive country,\u201d said the food gave him digestive problems, lamented the noise in the streets, and wrote that he had no one to talk to. He also mentioned conflicts between alleged Nazis in USP\u2019s Physics Department. In fact, according to Freire Jr., these were merely internal disputes over hiring, sometimes involving German physicists who were mistakenly associated with Nazism.<\/p>\n

In an interview given in March 1983 to Alberto Luiz da Rocha Barros (1930\u20131999) from IF-USP, and published in April 1990 in Revista de Estudos Avan\u00e7ados<\/em>, Bohm offered a more generous assessment: \u201cMany of my ideas developed considerably during my stay in Brazil\u2014and many new ideas also emerged.\u201d How can this apparent contradiction be understood? According to Freire Jr., the complaints reflect the depression brought on by exile, which Bohm sought to treat with electroconvulsive therapy, since medication did not seem to help.<\/p>\n

The confiscation of his passport by a US consulate official less than a month after his arrival in Brazil left him, in his own words, \u201cdepressed and restless,\u201d fearful of deportation, as he wrote in a letter to a friend. Without a passport, he could not attend international conferences to defend a new and challenging theory he had developed at Princeton and, once in Brazil, published in two articles in Physical Review<\/em> in January 1952: a deterministic description of quantum phenomena.<\/p>\n

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Archives of the National Academy of Sciences <\/span>Bohm (last standing, right<\/em>) with Oppenheimer (first seated, left<\/em>) at the Shelter Island Conference in the United States in 1947, dedicated to the fundamentals of quantum mechanicsArchives of the National Academy of Sciences <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Up to that point, quantum physics, which describes phenomena on a subatomic scale, was grounded in the so-called Copenhagen interpretation, which Bohm had explained in accessible terms in his book Quantum Theory<\/em> (Prentice Hall, 1951), based on a course he had previously taught at Princeton. According to this view, elementary particles of matter, such as electrons, can behave either as particles (with a defined location) or as waves (spread across a region). Because of their wave-like nature, it was not possible to define both the position and momentum of a particle at the same time; the description of subatomic phenomena was necessarily probabilistic, indicating only the likelihood of particles being in one place or another. Bohm, however, rejected this duality. For him, particles always had well-defined positions, guided by a \u201cpilot wave,\u201d or quantum field.<\/p>\n

The silence of his colleagues<\/strong>
\nIn a 1983 interview, Bohm explained that the quantum field \u201cacted on the particle through a quantum potential that had strange properties, one of which was that it did not always decrease with distance; it could be very strong even at great distances. I called this nonlocality.\u201d His reinterpretation of quantum mechanics was not well received by colleagues, some of whom responded with awkward silence.<\/p>\n

Physicist Amir Caldeira, from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), acknowledges that it is not easy for experts in the field to immediately accept a new quantum theory. \u201cIn terms of predicting experimental results, quantum mechanics is the most accurate theory we know,\u201d he says. For him, Bohm was searching for something else: \u201ca description of physical reality, which is not possible within quantum mechanics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Historical Collection of the USP Physics Institute <\/span>Letter from Bohm to Abrah\u00e3o de Moraes in 1950 confirming his interest in the physics chair at USPHistorical Collection of the USP Physics Institute <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

To this day, Bohm\u2019s realistic interpretation exists alongside the traditional one, but it has not been strong enough to replace it. Even Bohm\u2019s Brazilian students did not adopt it. The incompatibility between the concept of atomic nonlocality and realistic interpretations was experimentally confirmed by Frenchman Alain Aspect, American John Clauser, and Austrian Anton Zeilinger, who shared the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, based on a theorem developed in 1964 by Northern Irish physicist John Stuart Bell (1928\u20131990).<\/p>\n

In a 2001 interview with the digital magazine ComCi\u00eancia<\/em>, Am\u00e9lia Hamburger commented that Bohm\u2019s greatest contribution was perhaps to bring S\u00e3o Paulo physicists \u201ca mindset of freedom and imagination.\u201d Freire Jr. agrees: \u201cHis great achievement was daring to question what was already considered established, even though the new deterministic view of the quantum world was not accepted by the entire scientific community.\u201d In his view, the American physicist put USP and Brazil on the map of debates in quantum mechanics.<\/p>\n

While in Brazil, Bohm maintained contact with colleagues abroad and welcomed international visitors. Physicists such as Ralph Schiller (1926\u20132016) from the United States, Mario Bunge (1919\u20132020) from Argentina, Jean-Pierre Vigier (1920\u20132004) from France, and L\u00e9on Rosenfeld (1904\u20131974) from Belgium visited thanks to research grants from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), created in 1951\u2014the same year Bohm arrived in Brazil. The agency was established to support scientific research and development in the country.<\/p>\n

It was not only Bohm\u2019s arrival that energized Brazilian physics in the early 1950s, notes physicist and philosopher Osvaldo Pessoa Jr., from the School of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at USP, who organized a symposium on Bohm at IF-USP in 1998. \u201cC\u00e9sar Lattes [1924\u20132005], when he returned from Europe in 1948, created a movement for science in Rio de Janeiro,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Lattes was one of the founders of the Brazilian Center for Physics Research in Rio de Janeiro in 1949 (see<\/em> Pesquisa FAPESP issue no. 340<\/em>), the year he received a visit from American physicist Richard Feynman (1918\u20131988), who would later win the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics. \u201cBohm\u2019s arrival came at a very opportune moment, during the institutional consolidation of research in Brazil,\u201d Freire Jr. points out.<\/p>\n

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Ricardo Gumbleton Daunt Identification Institute<\/span>Document issued by the Brazilian Consulate in New York in 1951Ricardo Gumbleton Daunt Identification Institute<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Physicist Iber\u00ea Caldas, from IF-USP, highlights Bohm\u2019s contribution to research in plasma physics\u2014a gaseous mixture of atomic particles carrying positive or negative electric charges. According to him, Bohm\u2019s work in this field, \u201cstill well known today,\u201d shaped the scientific and academic career of Walter Sch\u00fctzer in Brazil. \u201cSch\u00fctzer was one of Bohm\u2019s closest collaborators in the Physics Department,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

Bohm\u2019s dialogues with M\u00e1rio Schenberg (1914\u20131990), director of the Physics Department from 1953 to 1961 (see<\/em> Pesquisa FAPESP issue no. 307<\/em>), were also fruitful. Both Jewish communists, they disagreed on how to interpret quantum phenomena and the nature of the real world. Schenberg recommended that his colleague read the works of German philosopher Georg Hegel (1770\u20131831), considered indispensable for every communist.<\/p>\n

At the end of 1954, Bohm obtained Brazilian citizenship and was finally able to leave the country. In January 1955, he took up a teaching post at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and two years later moved again, to positions at the University of Bristol and later the University of London. At that time, he immersed himself in the study of philosophers and mystics, searching for a broader understanding of reality. These readings brought him into dialogue with the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895\u20131986), with whom he discussed the concept of totality and the interconnectedness of existence.<\/p>\n

Although Bohm never returned to Brazil, in July 2025 the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP held a symposium with 24 speakers to reflect on his time in the country and to commemorate the centenary of Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s equation, a milestone in quantum theory. Formulated in late 1925 by Austrian physicist Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger (1887\u20131961), the equation describes how the quantum state of molecular or atomic systems evolves over time.<\/p>\n

American physicist Bill Poirier, from the University of Vermont and chair of the organizing committee, recalls being captivated by Bohm\u2019s Brazilian story when he gave a seminar at USP in 2018\u2014fittingly, in a room named after Jayme Tiomno. \u201cI was fascinated by what I learned,\u201d he says. \u201cI was also surprised to discover that few in the room knew anything about this story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story above was published with the title “Lessons in freedom<\/strong>” in issue 355 of September\/2025.<\/p>\n

Scientific articles<\/strong>
\nBOHM, D. O aparente e o oculto: Entrevista com David Bohm<\/a>. Revista de Estudos Avan\u00e7ados<\/strong>. Vol. 4, no. 8. Apr. 1990.
\nFREIRE JR. O. et al<\/em>. David Bohm, sua estada no Brasil e a teoria qu\u00e2ntica<\/a>. Estudos Avan\u00e7ados<\/strong>. Vol. 8, no. 20. Jan. 1994.
\nHAMBURGER, A. F\u00edsica qu\u00e2ntica no Brasil<\/a>. ComCi\u00eancia<\/strong>. May 2001.<\/p>\n

Books<\/strong>
\nFREIRE JR., O. David Bohm: A life dedicated to understanding the quantum world<\/strong>. New York: Springer, 2019.
\nPEAT, F. D. Infinite potential: The life and times of David Bohm<\/strong>. Reading: Addison-Wesley Pub Wesley Publishing Company, 1996.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Persecuted in the US, he lived in Brazil for four years and proposed new concepts to explain the behavior of atomic particles","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":573178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[],"coauthors":[440],"class_list":["post-573157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retrospect"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573186,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573157\/revisions\/573186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573157"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=573157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}