FASTER THAN LIGHT

A book for physicists—but not armchair scientists—who are curious about the underlying philosophical aspects of nature.

Sansbury (Geomagnetism as Gravity Measured by Magnetic Materials, 1994) gives readers a lot to think about in this book, which challenges some of the most deeply rooted ideas in physics. In particular, he tackles ideas stemming from Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity and Niels Bohr’s model of the atom. He gives brief overviews of some of the classical ideas but largely focuses on his main theme: the nature of light and its propagation (or lack thereof). The meat of the book starts with its second chapter, where he outlines Bohr’s and Einstein’s theories and proposes his alternate theory. “Many of the non-intuitive claims of Quantum Mechanics and Relativity have their roots in the concept of light as something moving, as a wave or a photon.” What Sansbury proposes is a complete overhaul of the usual way of thinking about light—a paradigm shift, if proven true. He writes that one may “assume that light or radio signals are the result of instantaneous forces at the same repeated frequency acting on atomic nuclei in the eye or in a radio antenna, and, after a delay, increase in amplitude to produce a detectable effect.” Such instantaneous transfer of information is an idea that mainstream physics has all but left behind. The book presents arguments to support the idea that by understanding the movement of the electrons in atoms, one may explain how light is emitted, its transmission is delayed and how it is absorbed. It then turns its attention to the questions this theory raises regarding magnetism, ferromagnetism and superconductors. It also addresses Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity, and it discusses issues regarding planetary orbits and the curvature of space, as well as time dilation. All in all, this is a thought-provoking book for physicists but a difficult read.

A physics book with some intriguing ideas that may require more investigation.