Issue 72
March/April 2007
Infinite Energy Magazine

Book Review
Old Physics for New: A Worldview Alternative to Einstein’s Relativity Theory
by Thomas E. Phipps, Jr.
ISBN 0-9732911-4-1
$20.00 Softcover, 258 pp.
Apeiron, 2006

Review by Bill Cantrell

Crisp, clear and invigorating! These are words that describe the latest book from renowned dissident physicist Dr. Tom Phipps. His new book goes to battle against the illogic of modern physics by highlighting some of the mistakes and errors associated with the current formulation of electromagnetic field theory and its attempted rescue by special relativity theory (SRT). The avid reader of dissident material will find a treasure trove of new information on this topic, along with a detailed proposal for an experimentum crucis to decide between the validity of SRT and his alternative theory. Readers of Phipps’ first book, Heretical Verities, will also find this an indispensable addition to their dissident library.

Old Physics for New makes a key contribution to dissident progress by clearly delineating the inescapable problems in the mathematical formulation of Maxwell’s Equations for moving reference frames. The book is not overly heavy on the esoteric equations so characteristic of electromagnetic field theory; but rather, the author uses mathematical description only where appropriate. The reader is treated to Phipps’ eloquent writing style in describing the many problems with mainstream theory, and a lively supposition of why science chose the paths that it did. The book makes for quite an enjoyable read, something like a detective novel, because Phipps leads the reader through his alternative neo-Hertzian theory in a clear and uncomplicated manner revealing every clue and every inescapable conclusion along the way.

There are some gratifying details inside. Length invariance and Euclidian geometry reign supreme in Phipps’ theory for there is no room for space-time symmetry or length contraction. He also discusses the fact that the GPS evidence violates SRT on definitional and experimental grounds, resulting in the need to simply ignore SRT so that GPS can be designed to work correctly. An entire chapter is devoted to the topic of stellar aberration, which to the reader’s delight, does an outstanding job of explaining the history of stellar aberration, what it is, how it occurs, and why it is irreconcilable with SRT.

Based on the experimental evidence, there is a need for time dilation. The author has devoted two chapters to clock rate asymmetry and “collective” time. Clock compensation is discussed in considerable detail from a pragmatic standpoint involving the actual nuts and bolts of clock compensation—not the mind-numbing thought experiments involving trains so beloved of some in the mainstream. Dirty little experimental secrets and cold hard logic abound here.

Most importantly, Phipps throws down the gauntlet to mainstream relativists with two proposals for a decisive test of his alternative neo-Hertzian theory versus SRT. First, he proposes a measurement of the angle of stellar aberration using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), an experiment that can be performed using present-day technology. Second, he proposes an experiment for light speed measurement in a free-falling inertial system, the outcome of which could require the reformulation of the relativity principle as currently understood.