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Most beautiful experiment: history and popularizing descriptions

• Physics World : motivations for the preference accorded to the “most beautiful experiment”
• Physics World : same as above, with additional correspondence on the attribution of the title of most beautiful experiment.
• Event organized in December 2003 by the University of Bologna on the subject of the most beautiful experiment (in italian)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUI3lhRje_0 (YouTube) videoclip on a recent version of the single electron interference experiment produced by Hitachi Ltd
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_slit Wikipedia on the double-slit experiment
• http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/GeneralInterest/Harrison/DoubleSlit/DoubleSlit.html popularization of the 2 slit experiment according to Feynman’s scheme
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEzRdZGYNvA (YouTube) popularizing animation of the two-slit experiment (Dr. Quantum)
• http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/index.pl popularizing explanation of the two-slit experiment

Developments of the 2-slit experiment

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_eraser_experiment Wikipedia on quantum erasure effects
• http://www.quantum.at/research/molecule-interferometry-foundations/wave-particle-duality-of-c60.html on interference experiments involving molecules of large dimensions.

General aspects and interpretations of Quantum Mechanics (QM)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics Wikipedia on QM
• http://plato.stanford.edu/ Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy, containing a number of articles devoted to the interpretation and to the philosophical impications of QM
• http://pirsa.org/C05001 a series of freely accessible (flash) lectures on the various interpretations of QM.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretation_of_quantum_mechanics Wikipedia on the various interpretations of QM
• Introductory notes of a course on interpretation of QM, from the site of the Institute for Quantum Computing
• http://www.whatthebleep.com/ a “New Age” point of view on the philosophical consequences of QM
• http://www.yoism.org/?q=node/167 example of QM proposed in support of a religious interpretation of the world (Yoism)
• http://www.marxist.com/quantum-mechanics-copenhagen130705-11.htm arguments against the Copenhagen interpretation of QM derived from the marxist point of view of dialectic materialism

Applications: the quantum computer

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer wikipedia on quantum computer
• http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/1658 article (1998) by A. Zeilinger on quantum computation
• http://computer.howstuffworks.com/quantum-computer1.htm how quantum computers work
• http://pirsa.org/C06014 freely accessible (flash) lectures on quantum information/computation from the point of view of foundations.

Teaching materials on topics related to the most beautiful experiment

• http://www.onlinecourses.com/ The project is a free and comprehensive resource that is a collection of open college course that spans videos, audio lectures, and notes given by professors at Harvard, Princeton and MIT. In the physics section, you'll find many lessons at various levels on modern physics and quantum mechanics.

• Online lessons of prof. Walter Lewin from M.I.T.:
  • http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-03-physics-iii-vibrations-and-waves-fall-2004/video-lectures/lecture-20/ interference and related phenomena.
  • http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-02-electricity-and-magnetism-spring-2002/video-lectures/lecture-33-double-slit-interference-and-interferometers/ interference and two-slit experiment
  • http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-01-physics-i-classical-mechanics-fall-1999/video-lectures/lecture-34/ introductory lesson on modern phisycs, uncertainty relation, etc.

• http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Perimeter_Explorations/General/Perimeter_Explorations/ website of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics a Waterloo, Ontario,(Canada). Here you'll find freely available materials (mostly at a popularizing and high school level) to support teaching of various topics in modern physics.

• The Feynman lectures on physics 3. Quantum mechanics Feynman et al. (1965). See in particular pages 1-5: the two-slit experimentis is placed at the beginning of the treatment of quantum mechanics and is explained according to a scheme henceforth utilized in many other treatments.
• Electron Diffraction at Multiple Slits C. Jönnson, D. Brandt, S. Hirschi Am. J. Phys. 42 (1974) 4 (experiment of interference of many electrons, using the electron microscope and multiple slits)
• An Experiment of Electron Interference O. Donati, G.F. Missiroli and G. Pozzi Am. J. Phys. 41 (1973) 639 (electron interference experiment using the electron microscope equipped with an electrostatic Moellensted & Düker electrostatic biprism).
• On the statistical aspects of electron interference phenomena P.G. Merli, G.F.Missiroli, G. Pozzi Am. J. Phys. 44 (1976) 306 (experiment of interference of single electrons)
• Interferenza e Diffrazione di elettroni: I interferenza (G. Pozzi, G.F. Missiroli, P.G. Merli) , II diffrazione (P.G. Merli, G.F. Missiroli, G. Pozzi) Giornale di Fisica 15 (1974) 163 e 17 (1986) 73 (foundations of diffraction and interference of electrons in the transmission electron microscope) (in italian)
• Demonstration of single-electron buildup of an interference pattern A. Tonomura, J. Endo, T. Matsuda, T Kawasaki Am. J. Phys. 57 (1989) 117 (repetition of the experiment of diffraction of single electrons with a more sophisticated instrumentation)
• Electron Interference: Landè Approach Upset by a Recent Elegant Experiment R. Rosa Lettere al Nuovo Cimento 24 (1979) 549 (on a few implications of the Merli-Missiroli-Pozzi experiment)
• The Merli-Missiroli-Pozzi Two-Slit Electron Interference Experiment R. Rosa PhilSci Archive, deposited on January 2008 (an in-depth philosophical treatment on the implications of the Merli, Missiroli & Pozzi experiment)
• The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science by Robert P. Crease (A Random House Trade Paperback - see it on Amazon.com)
• The Merli-Missiroli-Pozzi Two-Slit Electron-Interference Experiment R. Rosa Physics in Perspective, 14 (2012) 178. Article freely available at this link. In this paper Rosa (professor of Statistical Sciences at the Bologna University and formerly researcher at CNR-LAMEL) examines the experiment, places it in historical context, and discusses its philosophical implications.