During the course of his research on casimir forces william was a visiting student at the university of trento and the weizmann institute he also founded a physics philosophy society physphil and was the chief organiser of st andrews first two philosophy of physics conferences and the foundations of casimir physics symposium in stockholm. Despite more than half a century of theoretical work the casimir effect is still not as fully understood as some suppose in this treatise the author uncovers new puzzles and paradoxes concerning th surprises in theoretical casimir physics quantum forces in inhomogeneous media authors view affiliations part of the springer theses . Despite more than half a century of theoretical work the casimir effect is still not as fully understood as some suppose in this treatise the author uncovers new puzzles and paradoxes concerning this mysterious phenomenon in particular he. This thesis considers the problem of determining casimir lifshitz forces in inhomogeneous media the ground state energy of the electromagnetic field in a piston geometry is discussed when the cavity is empty the casimir pressure on the piston is finite and independent of the small scale physics of the media that compose the mirrors. Surprises in theoretical casimir physics quantum forces in inhomogeneous media springer theses 2015th edition by william mr simpson author isbn 13 978 3319093147