Bohm and Aharonov's 1957 EPR paper showed quantum correlations exceed the natural classical account, years before Bell's theorem
In a 2026 oral-history interview, Yakir Aharonov recounts that his 1957 paper with David Bohm (Bohm and Aharonov, Physical Review 108, 1957) took Chien-Shiung Wu and Irving Shaknov's 1950 photon-polarization-correlation experiment — originally designed as a test of pair theory — and showed, via a calculation Aharonov performed, that the observed correlations could not be explained by the most natural classical (local hidden-variable) account. Aharonov frames this as predating John Bell's 1964 theorem, calling it the first concrete experimental case of quantum correlations exceeding classical limits, though narrower in scope than Bell's later general proof. Aharonov is explicit about the limit of the result: the paper ruled out the most natural classical explanation, not every conceivable one.
[unverified-mechanism — needs primary]: this is a historical priority/mechanism claim resting on a 2026 first-person recollection of a 1957 paper; the underlying primaries (Bohm & Aharonov 1957, Wu & Shaknov 1950, Bell 1964) were not independently re-read this session. See question-verify-bohm-aharonov-1957-epr-wu-shaknov-primary.
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“So this was much before Bell. It was actually the first, real experimental test to show that quantum correlations go beyond classical ones. Bell later proved that it's general, but this was the first particular example of quantum correlation that are stronger than what you can achieve classically.”
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