Henry Stapp and the Orthodox Interpretation

Henry Stapp studied with the founders of quantum mechanics and has been one of the most forceful defenders of a version of what is known as the orthodox interpretation. Upon completion of his PhD under Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain, Stapp was invited to work with Pauli, who unfortunately died prematurely the same year. Stapp was then invited to work with Werner Heisenberg, and then with J. A. Wheeler, on the foundations of quantum mechanics—one of the main topics on which Stapp has focused his remarkable career. These facts alone make Henry Stapp an icon in the field of physics, particularly the foundations of physics, but there is a lot more to say about Stapp and his work. In this paper, we discuss Stapp’s legacy, as well as his views about the connection between the observer, quantum measurements, and the mind/body problem.