I think it's important to mention and thank the people who I think are doing physics the progressive way (ie: with Sagan's balanced mix of wonder and scepticism) and here's an (incomplete) list of those I admire and who have inspired me in some direct way:
First of all there's John Anderson, the discoverer or co-discoverer of the Pioneer and flyby anomalies (and more recently periodic variations in big G) without which I would have had far fewer anomalies to get me interested. I love his style because he publishes carefully analysed anomalous data and honestly points out that 'this is unexplained'. This is a gift for a data-driven theorist like me.
Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff who proposed the first model explaining how inertial mass might be caused by the zero point field in 1994, a model (see paper) that thrilled me when I first read it on a long train journey, like a chink of light would thrill someone lost in a cave. Later I decided it was brilliant, but wrong (it needs a arbitrary cutoff) and this inspired me towards MiHsC and an asymmetric Casimir effect (aCe) which needs no cut-off.
Mordehai Milgrom, who first suggested that the laws were wrong at low acceleration by inventing MoND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics) in 1983. Milgrom also vaguely speculated on a link between MoND and Unruh radiation but wasn't specific. Although MoND is a huge step up from dark matter, it is not as good as MiHsC because it needs a number to be input by hand (MiHsC predicts this number by itself) but Milgrom's papers on MoND were an inspiration to me, and he also kindly commented on (politely disagreed with) my first paper on MiHsC when I sent a draft to him.
My first anonymous astrophysics reviewer. I submitted my first paper on MiHsC to MNRAS in 2006 and fully expected to be rejected. The reviewer said they didn't exactly believe MiHsC, but it was more plausible than many alternatives which had been published, so they let it pass, to my great joy. The reviewer was also amused by my use of the word 'forecast' instead of 'prediction' (I worked at the Met Office).
Martin Tajmar, whose has a unique mix of being open-minded enough to test new anomalies while also being uber-professional about it, and he is bringing much needed respectability to the new physics. His 'Tajmar effect' was a good experimental result to test MiHsC on.
Scarpa et al, who wrote a brilliant paper on globular clusters (published at the first crisis in cosmology conference) that convinced me that dark matter was absolutely wrong. It also shows that MiHsC, which depends on local accelerations, is better than MoND, which depends on external ones.
Jaume Gine, with whom I've just published the first collaborative paper on MiHsC. This joint-paper has been submitted by both of us to so many journals over the past year that I'm grateful for his perseverence. He has suggested possible links between MiHsC and holographic physics, an approach which is bearing fruit.
Nick Cook, whose book 'The Hunt for Zero Point' has a main point that I do not believe for a nanosecond (I don't believe the US already has anti-grav technology), but the book contains so much that is interesting and relevant to MiHsC and made me feel for the first time that I wasn't alone in being fascinated by the zero point field, which, although invented by Einstein and Planck has always been, like inertia, an ignored or even taboo area of physics. MiHsC now brings them together.
7 comments:
I agree with you about inspiring physicists. I remember well having coffees with Bernie Haisch in Palo Alto some years back. He's a great guy to brainstorm with. Hal is another of course, he had some fabulous stories and insights. I used to refer to Palo Alto as the intellectual center of the universe as living there I found many times to be coincidentally in the company of such giants of physics. The private tutorials by Teller, Pauling, Schalow, Haisch, Putoff and more have stuck with me to this day. The brainstorming sessions we shared are as fresh in my mind this evening as they were the day they happened... I was thrilled today to see you mentioned in the news of the EM drive as having viable theoretical ideas, the EM drive is part of a revolution in physics that is most assuredly knitting together a number of here-to-fore anomalous phenomena. Here's a link to a fun side story in this venue http://atom-ecology.russgeorge.net/2016/04/19/cold-fusion-class-action-lawsuit-puts-uspto-in-heavy-water/
I'm pleased to see that your theory is now mentioned on MIT Technology Review. Word is getting out.
'Hunt for Zero Point' - indeed, one of a handful of books which remain fascinating whether or not there's any truth in them.
It's a real breath of fresh air to witness some original thinking in physics. MiHsC is a fascinating new way of looking at things. I find it incredible that scientists would dismiss your ideas, because they disagree with an existing theory. It implys the sort of blinkered attitude more associated with a fundamentalist religious viewpoint, than a scientist open to discover more about the universe.
I sometimes wonder whether this group-think is an unfortunate byproduct of the vast amount of realtime communication available between individuals. Thinking about and forming truly new concepts and ideas can take a lot of time, and historically has been done by individuals largely in isolation. I think there's an argument to be made that too much frequent communication can short circuit such mental processes. Constant exposure to others work will tend to drag ones own ideas back towards the "average" viewpoint.
I loved the Hunt for Zero Point as well. A thrilling read irregardless of how true it might be!
The very best of luck Mike, and keep up your great work.
Thanks Matthew,
You have a good point. My isolation from the physics community has certainly had its advantages, in that I've been freer to explore.
Now that MiHsC has taken shape, I could do with a research team to spread the load and speed up progress, and I'm glad some people are starting to work with me.
Tajmar seems to be dubious to me, because he has stolen the idea from Podklentov without giving him credit and later claimed some results which were never confirmed despite some serious attempts. It is amazing how he managed to maintain an image of serious scientist despite this.
By the way, do you to predict confirmation for Tajmars results meaning that the gravity will decrease above rotating superconducting disc?
Ian: Well, Tajmar discovered a different effect to Podkletnov: a very slight tendency of accelerometers to show a horizontal acceleration to follows a rotating disc (not superconducting). You are right that this result has not been reproduced in another lab.. MiHsC predicts the Tajmar disc result, but not Podkletnov's rotating SC disc result (though it does predict P's vibration-only result).
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