ABSTRACT
I was very enthusiastic about our findings and wanted to publish
them in a prestigious journal. I knew that this was not going to
be easy, because neither Walter nor I were known experts in this
particular area of mathematical physics, and any referee who saw
that we tried to refute Bell would probably have a negative reaction
to it. This is why I called my friend Federico Capasso and asked him
to help. I had known Federico since many years. He was one of the
top researchers at Bell Laboratories and now professor of applied
physics at Harvard. Federico and I had hadmany spirited discussions
about research topics and had become very good friends. Federico’s
research area is solid state physics. He is a great expert in the area
of light detectors, including the photodetectors that are used in the
EPRB experiments, and he is the “father” of the quantum cascade
laser. He knew about EPRB experiments and the Bell theorem. He
also knew that I would not be calling him if I was not convinced
about having important results. After presenting my case, I asked
Federicowhether hewould, as amember of the National Academy of
Sciences, sponsor a paper for PNAS, the proceedings of this National Academy and a very prestigious journal. I was at that time not yet a
member of the academy myself. Any member of the academy could
communicate annually a small number of papers to PNAS, determine the referees, and be involved in the publication process in the role
of a guest editor. If the referee reports were good, such a paper
would be printed with very high probability. For academymembers,
this was a wonderful way to publish their own research and also to
sponsor deserving research of young scientists as well as research
on somewhat risky but highly interesting topics.
