QUANTUM FIELD THEORY is well described by an adjective that Robert Oppenheimer once applied to the Fermi theory of beta decay; it is robust. It has had its ups and downs, but it somehow seems to survive all vicissitudes and continues to provide the best available language for the description of elementary‐particle phenomena. Here I shall try to describe the origins and some of the achievements and objectives of the particular brand of field theory customarily referred to as “axiomatic.” I will thereby try to answer the question posed by the title.
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7
, 1
(1968
) and references cited therein.
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© 1969 American Institute of Physics.
1969
American Institute of Physics
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