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Thomas C Van Flandern | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 June 1940 |
| Died | 29 January 2009 (aged 68) |
| Nationality | American |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | pseudo-science |
Thomas C Van Flandern (June 26, 1940 – January 9, 2009) was an American astronomer, known as an outspoken proponent of unorthodox views related to astronomy, physics, and extra-terrestrial life.
Life
Van Flandern graduated from Xavier University in 1962 and then attended Yale University on a scholarship sponsored by the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO). In 1969, he received a PhD in Astronomy from Yale, with a dissertation on lunar occultations. Van Flandern worked at the USNO until 1982. Thereafter he did some consulting work, organized eclipse viewing tours, and promoted his unorthodox views in his "Meta Research" newsletter, web site, and public lectures.[1][2][3] He died in Sequim, Washington after a brief battle with cancer.[4][5]
Beliefs
Van Flandern advocated several ideas related to astronomy and physics which were not supported by the mainstream scientific community. In particular, he was a prominent advocate of the belief that certain geological features seen on Mars, especially the "face at Cydonia", are not of natural origin, but were produced by intelligent extra-terrestrial life, probably the inhabitants of a major planet once located where the asteroid belt presently exists, and which Van Flandern believed had exploded 3.2 million years ago. He gave lectures on the subject[6], usually sponsored by UFO organizations, and at the conclusion of the lectures he described his overall conception
- "We've shown conclusively that at least some of the artifacts on the surface of Mars were artificially produced, and the evidence indicates they were produced approximately 3.2 million years ago, which is when Planet V exploded. Mars was a moon of Planet V, and we speculate that the Builders created the artificial structures as theme parks and advertisements to catch the attention of space tourists from Planet V (much as we may do on our own Moon some day, when lunar tourism becomes prevalent), or perhaps they are museums of some kind. Remember that the Face at Cydonia was located on the original equator of Mars. The Builder's civilization ended 3.2 million years ago. The evidence suggests that the explosion was anticipated, so the Builders may have departed their world, and it produced a massive flood, because Planet V was a water world. It is a coincidence that the face on Mars is hominid, like ours, and the earliest fossil record on Earth of hominids is the "Lucy" fossil from 3.2 million years ago. There have been some claims of earlier hominid fossils, but Lucy is the earliest that is definite. So I leave you with the thought that there may be a grain of truth in The War of the Worlds, with the twist that WE are the Martians.
In addition to his belief's related to Mars and an exploded former planet, Van Flandern also advocated replacing most modern theories of physics with a set of ideas that he dubbed “Deep Reality Physics". He published one such belief in a paper claiming the existence of "faster-than-light gravitational interactions[7]." He contended (as had Laplace around 1800, but contrary to the current scientific consensus represented by general relativity) that the absence of gravitational aberration implies that the speed of gravity must be billions of times greater than the speed of light. The journal in which this paper appeared subsequently published two follow-up papers, explaining why Van Flandern's claim is incorrect.[8][9]. Van Flandern also asserted faster-than-light propagation of electromagnetic forces and quantum field interactions in a paper co-authored with Jean-Pierre Vigier[10]. In addition, Van Flandern espoused Le Sage's theory of gravitation, according to which gravity is the result of a flux of invisible "ultra-mundane corpuscles" impinging on all objects from all directions at superluminal speeds. He gave public lectures claiming that this flux could be a source of limitless energy[11][12], which he believed could be used as a means of propulsion for space vehicles ("useful for getting around in the galaxy").
For a time during the mid-1970s, Van Flandern believed that lunar observations gave evidence of variation in Newton's gravitational constant G, consistent with a speculative idea that had been put forward by Paul Dirac.[13]. However, subsequent developments made it clear that Van Flandern's claimed effect was not statistically significant, and it was contradicted by more accurate findings based on radio measurements with the Viking landers.[14]
Van Flandern authored a book, Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets: Paradoxes Resolved, Origins Illuminated[15], in which he rejected and offered replacements for the fundamental theories of modern physics (especially special relativity, general relativity, and quantum mechanics), and challenged prevailing notions regarding dark matter, the big bang, and solar system formation, and advocated the theory that the asteroid belt consists of the remains of an exploded planet. He issued newsletters, papers, and maintained a website devoted to his ideas, which have not found acceptance within the mainstream scientific community.
References
- ^ "Salon story about relativity dissidents including Van Flandern".
- ^ "Autobiography and resume". Van Flandern's "Meta Research.
- ^ At one point he was hired to do some consulting work for the physics department at the University of Maryland related to the Global Positioning System (GPS). He concluded that the designers of the system had "basically blown off the theory of relativity", but the designers have published explanations of why Van Flandern's claims were incorrect. See [1]
- ^ "Sequim Gazette obituary".
- ^ Shortly after his passing in 2009, asteroid 52266 was named in honor of Van Flandern by former associates at the US Naval Observatory. The citation is given in Minor Planet Circular, which regularly publishes names given to asteroids. See Asteroid naming citation [2] scroll to 52266.
- ^ "Mysterious Mars". youtube.
- ^ Vanflandern, T (1998). "The speed of gravity ? What the experiments say". Physics Letters A. 250: 1. doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(98)00650-1.
- ^ Marsh, G (1999). "Comment on "The speed of gravity"". Physics Letters A. 262: 257. doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(99)00675-1.
- ^ Carlip, S. (2000). "Aberration and the Speed of Gravity". Phys. Lett. A. 267: 81–87. doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(00)00101-8. arXiv:gr-qc/9909087.
- ^ Van Flandern, Tom; Vigier, Jean-Pierre (2002). Foundations of Physics. 32: 1031. doi:10.1023/A:1016530625645.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Jeffery D. Kooistra (July-August, 1999). "Conference on Future Energy". Infinite Energy Magazine (26).
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)The summary of Van Flandern's talk at the Infinite Energy conference states "Van Flandern gave a talk entitled 'On a Complete Theory of Gravity and Free Energy'. For the free energy enthusiast, the implications of gravity being particulate and perhaps blockable are obvious. Block or deflect the c-gravitons raining down from the sky and up you go into space. Turn off the blocking shield and recover the energy you've gained, for free, as you fall back to Earth." - ^ "Dr. Thomas Van Flandern - MUFON-LA (1 of 1)". youtube.
- ^ http://www.gravityresearchfoundation.org/pdf/awarded/1974/vanflandern.pdf
- ^ See the discussion of Van Flandern's work on page 175 and following in Clifford Will's book "Was Einstein Right? Putting General Relativity to the Test", Basic Books, 2nd ed., 1993.
- ^ Tom Van Flandern. Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets: Paradoxes Resolved, Origins Illuminated. North Atlantic Books (Berkeley, CA 1993 and 1999). ISBN 978-1556432682.