Bohmian Mechanics (aka Pilot Wave Theory)

David Bohm was brillitant but his own worst enemy. He trashed his own career by exaggerating enmities in his mind and occasionally swerving into crackpottery. Sheldon Goldstein (author of this article) and Detlef Dürr are probably the best authors to read on this topic. Dürr has a recent book that might give a more readable introduction, <i>Understanding Quantum Mechanics: The World According to Modern Quantum Foundations</i> (2020).

I&#x27;ve always been fascinated by deterministic pilot wave theory and wish it was more talked about! I have no foundation in it but dismissals always seemed premature about hidden variables and Bell&#x27;s Inequality.<p>From this article, about John Bell himself:<p>&gt; Born and de Broglie very quickly abandoned the pilot-wave approach and became enthusiastic supporters of the rapidly developing consensus in favor of the Copenhagen interpretation. David Bohm (1952) rediscovered de Broglie’s pilot-wave theory in 1952. He was the first person to genuinely understand its significance and implications. John Bell became its principal proponent during the sixties, seventies and eighties.<p>&gt; Bell did not establish the impossibility of a deterministic reformulation of quantum theory, nor did he ever claim to have done so. On the contrary, until his untimely death in 1990, Bell was the prime proponent, and for much of this period almost the sole proponent, of the very theory, Bohmian mechanics, that he supposedly demolished.<p>But I&#x27;m know physicist. Just enthused.