# Paul Busch (physicist) > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Paul_Busch_(physicist) > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Paul_Busch_(physicist).md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Busch_(physicist) > Source revision: 1262634081 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Paul Busch** (15 February 1955 – 9 June 2018) was a German-born mathematical physicist, known for his work in [quantum mechanics](/source/Quantum_mechanics). He made pioneering contributions to [quantum measurement theory](/source/Quantum_measurement_theory), being an advocate of the use of [POVMs](/source/POVM), and to the [uncertainty principle](/source/Uncertainty_principle) in quantum mechanics, where he developed a mathematical formulation of a measurement-disturbance relation.[1] He was a professor of mathematics at the [University of Hull](/source/University_of_Hull) and the [University of York](/source/University_of_York). He published over 100 scientific articles[2] and co-authored three books: *The Quantum Theory of Measurement*,[3] *Operational Quantum Physics*[4] and *Quantum Measurement*.[5] ## Early life and education Busch was born in Refrath, a district of [Bergisch Gladbach](/source/Bergisch_Gladbach), Germany in February 1955. He studied at the [University of Cologne](/source/University_of_Cologne), obtaining a Diploma in Physics in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1982 under the supervision of [Peter Mittelstaedt](/source/Peter_Mittelstaedt). The title of his Ph.D. thesis was *Indeterminacy relations and simultaneous measurements in quantum theory*. He followed his PhD with a [Habilitation](/source/Habilitation) in Mathematical Physics from the University of Cologne, for a thesis entitled *Physical aspects of a generalised observable concept in quantum theory*.[6] ## Career Busch held positions at [Florida Atlantic University](/source/Florida_Atlantic_University) (1986), the [Max Planck Institute (Göttingen)](/source/Max_Planck_Institute_for_Biophysical_Chemistry) (1987–88), and the [University of Heidelberg](/source/University_of_Heidelberg) (1994).[7] In 1995, he moved to the [University of Hull](/source/University_of_Hull), where he was successively lecturer, reader and professor of mathematical physics; he was head of the department of mathematics from 2001 to 2005. He joined the [University of York](/source/University_of_York) as professor of mathematics in 2005, where he remained until his death. He was additionally an adjunct professor of theoretical physics at the [University of Turku](/source/University_of_Turku) in Finland (from 1991), and also held visiting professorships at the [Lyman Laboratory of Physics](/source/Lyman_Laboratory_of_Physics), [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) (1994–95) and the [Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics](/source/Perimeter_Institute_for_Theoretical_Physics) in [Waterloo, Ontario](/source/Waterloo,_Ontario) (2005–07).[6] He died in June 2018 after a short illness.[6] ## Honours Busch was elected a Fellow of the [Institute of Physics](/source/Institute_of_Physics) in 2014 and a full member of L'Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences in 2016.[6] He was President of the International Quantum Structures Association (2016 until his death).[6] ## References 1. Paul Busch, Pekka Lahti, and Reinhard F. Werner "Proof of Heisenberg's Error-Disturbance Relation" Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 160405 [DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.160405](https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.160405) 1. R.Colbeck, L. Loveridge and S. Weigert "Paul Busch: Contributions to Quantum Theory", Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 1638, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics – in memoriam Paul Busch. [DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/1638/1/012014](https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1638/1/012014) 1. P. Busch, P. Lahti, P. Mittelstaedt "The Quantum Theory of Measurement", Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol. m2, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1991. Second revised edition 1996. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-37205-9](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-37205-9) 1. P. Busch, M. Grabowski, P. Lahti "Operational Quantum Physics", Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol. m31, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1995. Second, corrected printing 1997. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-49239-9](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49239-9) 1. P. Busch, P. Lahti, J.-P. Pellonpää, K. Ylinen "Quantum Measurement", Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, Springer International Publishing, 2016. [DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-43389-9](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43389-9) 1. Gudder, Stan; Lahti, Pekka; Loveridge, Leon (September 2018). "Paul Busch 1955–2018". *Foundations of Physics*. **48** (9): 1128–1130. [Bibcode:2018FoPh...48.1128G](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018FoPh...48.1128G). [doi:10.1007/s10701-018-0206-8](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-018-0206-8). [ISSN 0015-9018](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0015-9018). [S2CID 125657332](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:125657332) 1. ["Curriculum vitae: Paul Busch FInstP"](https://c222b2d2-fac1-4518-b22e-974ade22aba0.filesusr.com/ugd/7a65e4_4731c5d2efa440a588c682dc53724221.pdf). January 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2020. ## External links - [Paul Busch's website containing his CV from Jan 2018](https://paulbusch.wixsite.com/research-page) - [Stefan Weigert "Paul Busch 1955 – 2018"](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336749549_Paul_Busch_1955_-_2018) - Ball, Philip (November 1, 2013). ["Uncertainty reigns over Heisenberg's measurement analogy"](https://physicsworld.com/a/uncertainty-reigns-over-heisenbergs-measurement-analogy/). *[Physics World](/source/Physics_World)*. Retrieved November 14, 2020. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Paul Busch (physicist)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Busch_(physicist)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Busch_(physicist)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.