Resources
Problems with Special & General Relativity
Brillouin, L. (1970) – Relativity Reexamined
Begins by considering the development of scientific theories in general, citing examples to show how scientists’ viewpoints have progressively changed. Some of the problems that have emerged, and which even Albert Einstein was unable to foresee, are highlighted. Analyzes a variety of experimental evidences that challenge many basic assumptions in theoretical physics, focusing on the fundamental importance of the Mössbauer effect and of atomic clocks; the link between gravitation and relativity; classical problems of theoretical mechanics; and special relativity Doppler effect.
Dingle, H. (1972) – Science at the Crossroads
Written after a long battle with his colleagues at the Royal Society and the editors of Nature, Dingle’s must-read exposé logically and systematically dismantles special relativity based on the self-refuting clock paradox. Dingle crucially distinguishes the clock paradox from its equally problematic spin-off, the twin paradox. He also insightfully points out that the mathematical idealism espoused by James Clerk Maxwell in the 1860s has persisted through to an extreme application in the 1970s. Dingle notes that ‘mathematics has been transformed from the servant of experience into its master.’
Gerber, P. (1898) – Die raurnliche und zeitliche Ausbreitung der Gravitation [The Spatial and Temporal Propagation of Gravity]. Zeitsch. f. Mathem u. Physik 1898 vol. 43 pp.93-104
Seventeen years before Einstein’s General Relativity, Gerber used Newtonian physics to derive an equation that exactly predicted the observed value for the precession of Mercury’s perihelion. Gerber assumed that gravity propagated at the speed of light, instead of instantaneously as Newton had suggested. He substituted the distance between the two masses (Mercury and the Sun) in Newtons’ universal law for a spatial-temporal propagation to get the correct result, no relativity needed. ‘It would be a strange coincidence if the 41 arcseconds for Mercury equated precisely to the speed of light and electricity without having some connection with the spatial-temporal propagation of gravity, seeing that the medium in which this propagation and movement of light and electric waves happens, is the same as the space extending between the heavenly bodies.’
Zweig, H. (2004) – Relativity Unraveled Ed. Steinherz
Zweig presents counterexamples for both Special and General Relativity Theory. He supports these examples by examining the fallacies and contradictions in Einstein’s arguments. He goes on to derive a new formula for the Doppler effect for light, showing the symmetry of the effect without resorting to Special Relativity. The consequences for cosmology, and for our vision of the universe, are discussed. The meaning of recent data for type 1A supernovae must be reinterpreted. The result is a younger, more compact universe than currently envisioned.
Burchell, B. (2023) – Alternative Physics Where Science Makes Sense
Brilliant, high-level dissection of Relativity to reveal its contradictions, as well as logical alternatives. Includes a detailed alternative to relativistic mass, a breakdown of the Schwarzschild equation and faster than light travel. ‘As any good defense attorney knows, there is always more than one explanation to fit incriminating evidence. On the one hand we have a body of observed evidence. On the other we have a set of explanations that would seem to fit it [Einstein’s Relativity]. Could there be another set of explanations that also fit? That’s the question this book aims to discover. It argues that, not only can other explanations be found, but they can be stated without the weirdness of the standard fare. It further argues that many of the standard theories are so riddled with contradictions, it defies belief that a commoner, let alone a scientist, could accept them on face value.’
Essen, L. (1971) – The special theory of relativity. A critical analysis. Oxford Science Research Papers and The Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Dr Louis Essen (1908–1997) was a leading physicist of the 1960s and Director of the National Physical Laboratory in Britain. Essen had invented the atomic clock and was one of two men to define the duration of ‘one second’ as a certain number of oscillations of caesium 133 atoms, that was later adopted as an International Standard.6 Essen, who was able to measure the speed of light more accurately than anyone else, made detailed criticisms of relativity.7,8 He disagreed with the notion that increasing oscillations of caesium atoms with increasing altitude was due to changes in spacetime.
Hollings, T. – Problems with Relativity
Hollings raises excellent questions and uses real-world examples to show the deficiencies of Special and General Relativity. Shows how Einstein’s definition of simultaneity, upon which he builds his theory of time dilation, is wrong. Also argues that space is not a pure vacuum, since it contains dust and other particles, and this makes it a very rarefied gas with its own index of refraction. Thus, ‘The speed of light is not a constant, but is [constant] with respect to the medium it is travelling through, even a very rarefied medium such as space.’
Shadbolt, B. (2024) – Refuting Relativity
Uncovers evidence from reputable sources, including Einstein himself, that soundly refutes relativity. Clearly explains relativity in its historical context and goes on to discuss how redshift was misinterpreted, the controversial origin of the CMB and the truth about GPS and gravitational waves. Provides many examples showing that the truth has a long history of being suppressed by the establishment.
Speed of Light
Einstein, A. (1911) – Über den Einfluß der Schwerkraft auf die Ausbreitung des Lichtes [On the Influence of Gravity on the Propagation of Light]. Annalen der Physik, Vol 35 pp.898-908
Einstein’s paper published in the prestigious German physics journal Annalen der Physik in June 1911. The key concept for this variable speed of light theory is that, rather than keeping the speed constant (and forcing changes to length and time to accommodate this), the length and time dimensions remain unchanged and the speed of light is varied. Simple, elegant and a snug fit for the experimental data. Curvature of a light beam could be explained by the graduated changes in the density of a medium, or strength of a gravitational field. Einstein proved this mathematically for light rays from a distant star undergoing deflection by the gravitational field of the Sun.
Dicke, R. H. (1957) – Gravitation Without A Principle of Equivalence. Reviews of Modern Physics. 29 (3): 363–376
Dicke’s paper, published in 1957, was written up as an alternative theory of gravitation without Einstein’s principle of equivalence. Dicke’s paper attracted much attention with his suggestion that gravitation could be of electromagnetic origin. In Dicke’s model, spacetime remained ‘flat’, which meant that light didn’t follow the shortest path in curved space, instead it followed the fastest path in flat space with variable velocity.
Reichenbach, H (1927) – The Philosophy of Space and Time. Dover Publications. Cited In: Einstein’s Relativity contains a HUGE Loophole. Its Implications Can’t Be Ignored. Dialect, YouTube Nov 19, 2023.
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Unzicker, A. (2015) – Einstein’s Lost Key: How We Overlooked the Best Idea of the 20th Century
Einstein’s Lost Key is a description of relativity comprehensible for lay people, a vividly exposed history of science, and a serious, though controversial input for modern research. Dr. Alexander Unzicker is a German physicist and award-winning science writer. His books Bankrupting Physics and The Higgs Fake have generated controversy in the physics community. With Einstein’s Lost Key, Unzicker gives an account of his long-lasting pursuit of Einstein’s ideas.
Veritasium (2020) – Why No One Has Measured the Speed Of Light. YouTube Oct 31, 2020
Physics students learn the speed of light, c, is the same for all inertial observers but no one has ever actually measured it in one direction. This video, with 20M views, explains why.
Tests of Relativity
Broekaert J. (2002) – Verification of the ‘essential’ GRT experiments in a scalar Lorentz-covariant gravitation. PIRT VIII proceedings, Duffy M.C. (ed.), PD Publications, Liverpool, 1, 37-54, 2002. Cited in: Broekaert, J. A Spatially-VSL Gravity Model with 1-PN Limit of GRT. Foundations of Physics May 2008 38(5):409-435
Belgian physicist Jan Broekaert has summarized the one-to-one correspondence between a variable speed of light paradigm and all classical tests of relativity.
Gerber, P. (1898) – Die raurnliche und zeitliche Ausbreitung der Gravitation [The Spatial and Temporal Propagation of Gravity]. Zeitsch. f. Mathem u. Physik 1898 vol. 43 pp.93-104 Cited in Jaume Giné’s On the origin of the anomalous precession of Mercury’s perihelion. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 38 (2008) 1004–1010
German mathematics teacher Paul Gerber derived an equation that exactly predicted the observed value for the anomalous precession of Mercury’s perihelion. However, Gerber had used Newtonian physics. Even more surprisingly, Gerber had published his equation in 1898 – seventeen years before Einstein. In Gerber’s paper he derived his equation from Newton’s universal law of gravity by proposing that gravity propagated at the speed of light instead of instantaneously, as Newton had assumed. Gerber substituted the distance between the two masses (Mercury and the Sun) for a time-delayed radial distance to get the correct result, no relativity needed. This work has since been supported with research showing that VSL gives the correct value for the perihelion shift.
Hafele, J. C. and R. E. Keating (1972) – Around-the-World Atomic Clocks: Observed Relativistic Time Gains. Science 177(4044):166–167
A famous test of time dilation in special relativity was conducted by physicists Joseph Hafele and Richard Keating in 1971. They placed high-precision atomic clocks on commercial airliners and flew them across the globe. As predicted by special relativity, the flying clocks were reported to show a change in time compared to the clock on the ground. These results were hailed as the most compelling experimental proof of special relativistic time delay in the history of physics.The inventor of the atomic clock and foremost expert in the world at the time however, Dr Louis Essen, refuted the conclusions of Hafele and Keating. He pointed out that three of the clocks on the eastward flight had suffered changes that may not have been due to the flight. According to Essen, the experimental results given did not support the predictions of Einstein’s special relativity.
Shapiro, I. (1964) Fourth Test of General Relativity. In: Physical Review Letters, Volume 13, Number 26
In Shapiro’s classic test, radar signals were found to take 0.0002 seconds longer to travel to Venus and back when the Sun was along the path, compared to when the Sun was not along the path. The time delay reported by Shapiro due to the gravitational field of the Sun was widely interpreted to confirm relativistic time dilation. It’s interesting to note, however, that rather than a gravitational time dilation, Shapiro himself described the time delay as a decrease in the speed of the pulse as it passed by the Sun, echoing the VSL that Einstein had described in 1911 and Dicke had described in 1957.