Natural Science Forum / Physics / General Physics / January 2008

http://cosmo.fis.fc.ul.pt/~crawford/artigos/essay-einstein-relativity.pdf
John Stachel: "The idea that a light beam consisted of a stream of
particles had been espoused by Newton and maintained its popularity
into the middle of the 19th century. It was called the "emission
theory" of light, a phrase I shall use...... The usual velocity
addition law is then replaced by a new one, in which the velocity of
light "added" to any other velocity ("added" in a new sense-it would
be better to say "compounded with") does not increase, but stays the
same! The Maxwell-Lorentz equations, when examined with the aid of
this new kinematics, prove to take the same form in every inertial
frame. They are, therefore, quite compatible with the relativity
principle, which demands that the laws of electricity, magnetism and
optics have this property. The presence or absence of an electric or
magnetic field, is then also found to be relative to an inertial
frame, allowing a completely satisfactory relativistic analysis of the
example of the conducting wire loop and magnet in relative motion.
Within six weeks of taking "the step," Einstein later recalled, he had
worked out all of these consequences and submitted the 1905 SRT paper
to Annalen der Physik. This does not imply that Lorentz's equations
are adequate to explain all the features of light, of course. Einstein
already knew they did not always correctly do so-in particular in the
processes of its emission, absorption and its behavior in black body
radiation. Indeed, his new velocity addition law is also compatible
with an emission theory of light, just because the speed of light
compounded with any lesser velocity still yields the same value. If we
model a beam of light as a stream of particles, the two principles can
still be obeyed. A few years later (1909), Einstein first publicly
expressed the view that an adequate future theory of light would have
to be some sort of fusion of the wave and emission theories. This is
an example of how the special theory of relativity functioned as a
theory of principle, limiting but not fixing the choice of a
constructive theory of light."

http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i6272.html
John Stachel: "Not only is the theory [of relativity] compatible with
an emission theory of radiation, since it implies that the velocity of
light is always the same relative to its source; the theory also
requires that radiation transfer mass between an emitter and an
absorber, reinforcing Einstein's light quantum hypothesis that
radiation manifests a particulate structure under certain
circumstances."

http://ustl1.univ-lille1.fr/culture/publication/lna/detail/lna40/pgs/4_5.pdf
Jean Eisenstaedt: "Il n'y a alors aucune raison theorique a ce que la
vitesse de la lumiere ne depende pas de la vitesse de sa source ainsi
que de celle de l'observateur terrestre ; plus clairement encore, il
n'y a pas de raison, dans le cadre de la logique des Principia de
Newton, pour que la lumiere se comporte autrement - quant a sa
trajectoire - qu'une particule materielle. Il n'y a pas non plus de
raison pour que la lumiere ne soit pas sensible a la gravitation.
Bref, pourquoi ne pas appliquer a la lumiere toute la theorie
newtonienne ? C'est en fait ce que font plusieurs astronomes,
opticiens, philosophes de la nature a la fin du XVIIIeme siecle. Les
resultats sont etonnants... et aujourd'hui nouveaux."
Translation from French: "Therefore there is no theoretical reason why
the speed of light should not depend on the speed of the source and
the speed of the terrestrial observer as well; even more clearly,
there is no reason, in the framework of the logic of Newton's
Principia, why light should behave, as far as its trajectory is
concerned, differently from a material particle. Neither is there any
reason why light should not be sensible to gravitation. Briefly, why
don't we apply the whole Newtonian theory to light? In fact, that is
what many astronomers, opticians, philosophers of nature did by the
end of 18th century. The results are surprising....and new nowadays."

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=27&ContentID=52711
"Professor Stephen Hawking says he is involved in work which "with
luck" will answer "some of the ultimate questions". Much of the work
is centred at Cambridge University's new Centre for Theoretical
Cosmology. (....) "We are now working on the unification of Einstein's
General Theory of Relativity, which governs the large-scale structure
of the universe, with Quantum Theory, the theory of the very small.
"This unification should determine what happened in the Big Bang and
how the universe began." He added: "The centre will work to develop
theories of the universe which are both mathematically consistent and
observationally testable. "IT WILL BUILD ON A TRADITION DATING BACK TO
ISAAC NEWTON OVER THREE CENTURIES AGO."

Hawking is learning. Some time ago he still did not find it suitable
to consider Newton's emission theory of light. Rather, like all other
zombies in Einstein criminal cult, Hawking believed that the Michelson-
Morley experiment confirmed Einstein's 1905 light postulate:

http://www.hawking.org.uk/lectures/dice.html
Stephen Hawking: "Both Mitchell and Laplace thought of light as
consisting of particles, rather like cannon balls, that could be
slowed down by gravity, and made to fall back on the star. But a
famous experiment, carried out by two Americans, Michelson and Morley
in 1887, showed that light always travelled at a speed of one hundred
and eighty six thousand miles a second, no matter where it came from.
How then could gravity slow down light, and make it fall back."

Perhaps Hawking changed his mind after reading the cleverest
Einsteinian's verdict:

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00001743/02/Norton.pdf
John Norton: "Einstein regarded the Michelson-Morley experiment as
evidence for the principle of relativity, whereas later writers almost
universally use it as support for the light postulate of special
relativity......THE MICHELSON-MORLEY EXPERIMENT IS FULLY COMPATIBLE
WITH AN EMISSION THEORY OF LIGHT THAT CONTRADICTS THE LIGHT
POSTULATE."

Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com