1980e
The following is a reference to a book by H. Aspden published by
Sabberton Publications in 1980.
PHYSICS UNIFIED
This book comprises 206 pages. It is an
account, updated to the year 1980, of Dr. Aspden's theory which is the subject
of these web pages. However, being in book form it offers the reader a style of
presentation, including the formal mathematics involved, not easily presented by
the Internet facility.
Its main thrust is to show how aether theory can
provide the unification of gravitation and electromagnetism long sought by
theoretical physicists.
As with the author's previous books it was
published at a time when there had been a major step forward in the development
of the theory. The 1980 landmark was the breakthrough in getting a paper [1980b]
accepted for publication by the U.K. Institute of Physics, penetrating the
resistance of their referee system, a paper which dared to say, indeed dared to
show, that the Einstein formula for the anomalous perihelion advance of the
planet Mercury could be derived by simple theory having classical foundation and
not in any way being dependent upon the Einstein doctrine.
That features
in pp. 17-22 of the book. Acceptance of that paper plus some others at that time
was a stimulus for writing this new work.
The book overall is described
on its back cover and the following is a summary:
Perhaps the greatest challenge in 20th century physics is that of
discovering how electromagnetism and gravitation can be embraced by a unified
theory compatible with Einstein's formulae for the energy-mass relationship,
mass increase with speed and the rate of advance of a planet's perihelion. In
this work Dr. Aspden shows how this unification emerges from a straightforward
analysis of energy deployment in particle interaction, confirming the
intuitive prediction of Oliver Heaviside (1893) as later endorsed by Leon
Brillouin (1970). However, an essential further step in Dr. Aspden's thesis is
the recognition that energy considerations are more fundamental than field
concepts. A law of electrodynamics is derived which was, in fact, first
suggested empirically by Maxwell and then discarded in favour of one deducible
from his field equations.
The unified theory based upon this new law of
electrodynamics should have practical application since it can account for
anomalies in the electron-ion energy transfer process currently observed in
experiments relating to fusion power. Its appeal to the physicists will be the
intriguing connection between the properties of elementary particles and the
structured character of the vacuum medium, allowing exact theoretical
evaluation of several fundamental physical constants.
In its broader
sense the work constitutes a general unification by providing a new insight
into the processes of creation of the solar system. The event of the sun's
creation is shown to result from the onset of the gravitational state as the
vacuum became ordered, a phenomenon analogous with the onset of the
ferromagnetic state as a ferromagnetic crystal cools below the Curie
temperature.
A note by the author:
The reference to Clerk Maxwell above needs a little qualification.
He did consider alternative formulations of the law of electrodynamics,
several being consistent with empirical evidence. One of those laws, presented
in quarternian formulation, had the form needed to conform with what was
required by a law of gravitation. All the laws depended upon the uncertain
factor Q, which could not be determined in Maxwell's time owing to lack of
further experimental evidence, not forthcoming until the Trouton-Noble
experiment was reported in 1903. Maxwell opted for that factor Q being +1,
whereas the factor -1 would have been the correct factor. It depends upon
whether one accepts that an out-of-balance couple or an out-of-balance force
exists in a general two-charge interaction situation. Sadly, Lorentz in 1904
and then Einstein in 1905 got into the act and, literally, messed things up!
My role therefore has been my stalwart and voluntary effort to clean up the
mess, but, again sadly, the physics community would rather drift along without
paying attention to what I say and without even looking back to see if they
have gone adrift in their blind acceptance of Einstein's doctrines.
Harold Aspden
