[rerevisionist]

Were criticisms of relativity suppressed, to head physicists off from investigating nuclear weapons?

A few commentators have noticed that the 'theory' of 'relativity' (in fact, it's a ragbag of claims, not a single theory) has been carefully protected and guarded. Note also that it's pretty much independent of all other physics - most physicists know nothing about it. Here's a comment by Ivor Catt

Although the principle of free communication of ideas is a basic tenet of the scientific community, there are numerous examples of their suppression. Professor Herbert Dingle, who wrote a book on relativity in the 1920s as well as a section on relativity for ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, and was the man chosen by the BBC to give the eulogy on Einstein when he died, developed doubts about the special theory of relativity around 1955. To his astonishment, he found that the scientific journals and institutions suddenly closed their pages and doors when he wanted to write or say something unorthodox; that is, heretical. A scientist might say, 'something that was incorrect'. He describes his experience in his book, SCIENCE AT THE CROSSROADS...

DIngle's book was published in 1972 - I have a small, rather tatty, paperback copy. The text is available online.

Bryan Wallace's Farce of Physics seems to have been first published in 1993; it's also online, and Wallace has an anti-relativity forum https://www.anti-relativity.com/forum although I can't honestly recommend it.

An earlier piece was What is wrong with relativity? by George Burniston Brown, published in March 1967 in the Bulletin of the Institute of Physics and Physical Society. There were a few follow-up letters; I may post details later if anyone's interested - I took the trouble to look up the journal.

It's interesting to see the inchoate and evasive replies made to critics of relativity, if replies ever are made, which is rare. All I'm pointing out here is that, since there's a supposed link between 'relativity' and 'e=mc squared' and 'nuclear bombs', it's likely that discussion has been, and will continue to be, discouraged by those in the know. I think for example Herman Bondi, then the official defence scientist of the British government, wrote an unsatisfactory short reply to G B Brown.

[NUKELIES]

To his astonishment, he found that the scientific journals and institutions suddenly closed their pages and doors when he wanted to write or say something unorthodox; that is, heretical.

This really makes me wonder how many people actually know nuclear bombs don't exist. I tend to think people in various strata of "power" allow their minds to become a convenient mix of ignorance and corruption.

It will never cease to amaze me that so many people believe obvious fallacies simply because they are official - SARS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, AIDS, the cause of cancer - I regularly see fools walking around here in the Orient with SARS masks on - especially in Japan! Perplexed, I searched for an answer on the internet and apparently they wear masks when they have a cold. I have a general if mild fondness for people over here - although I detest the treatment of animals in China - but I can't help but feel disgust when I see people in SARS masks.

[rerevisionist]

You may be misunderstanding these masks. I remember Arthur Koestler's book The Lotus and the Robot (about Japan, and India) pubished in 1960, and (I'm pretty sure) he mentioned masks as a supposed protection against traffic fumes, which Koestler interpreted as a reaction against 'pollution' in a symbolic sense. I remember being in a London youth hostel once; some Americans were discussing 'pollution' and a Japanese chap said, of Tokyo, "Oh yes, much poll-u-shon!" and I got the impression it's a word borrowed into Japanese to suggest western undesirable influences. So there seems to be a tradition of wearing these things outdoors.

Another motive for continued support of relativity is to keep promoting the Jewish fantasy of Einstein as a great scientist. I posted a bit on anti-relativity.com and sure enough up pops a supposed nuclear engineer, CCC, trotting out nonsense - exactly the same type that you get in Randall Zwingle's 'Randi Educational Foundation' fake skeptic site.

[FirstClassSkeptic]

What I like to ask for is empirical proof of the Lorentz contraction.

I asked on another forum, and someone posted a list of ten or fifteen experiments. I found about three on the internet, and they didn't prove much.

[FirstClassSkeptic]

Another thing that has to be maintained is the illusion of scientists as a class of high priests; ruling over things that ordinary mortals have no knowledge of, and cannot comprehend.