PhysRev.47.777.pdfVIP

.DESC RI PT ION OF P H YSI CAL REALITY of lanthanum is 7/2, hence the nuclear magnetic moment as determined by this analysis is 2.5 nuclear magnetons. This is in fair agreement with the value 2.8 nuclear magnetons deter- mined, from La III hyperfine structures by the writer and N. S. Grace. 9 M. F. Crawford and N. S. Grace, Phys. Rev. 47, 536 (1935). This investigation was carried out under the supervision of Professor G. Breit, and, I wish to thank him for the invaluable advice and assis- tance so freely given. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the award of a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Canada, and to thank the University of Wisconsin and the Department of Physics for the privilege of working here. MAY 15, 1935 PH YSI CAL REVI EW VOLUM E 4 7 Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete ? A. EINsTEIN, B. PQDoLsKY AND N. RosEN, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey (Received March 25, 1935) In a complete theory there is an element corresponding to each element of reality. A sufFicient condition for the reality of a physical quantity is the possibility of predicting it with certainty, without disturbing the system. In quantum mechanics in the case of two physical quantities described by non-commuting operators, the knowledge of one precludes the knowledge of the other. Then either (1) the description of reality given by the wave function in quantum mechanics is not complete or (2) these two quantities cannot have simultaneous reality. Consideration of the problem of making predictions concerning a system on the basis of measurements made on another system that had previously interacted with it leads to the result that if (1) is false then (2) is also false. One is thus led to conclude that the description of reality as given by a wave function is not complete. A NY serious consideration of a physical theory must take into account the dis- tinction between the objective reality, which is independent of an