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| This culminated in his 1972 book, ''Science at the Crossroads'' in which he argued that any attempts to argue with Einstein's special theory of relativity will be ruthlessly suppressed.<ref> by Herbert Dingle</ref><ref> This article links two PDF files: The body and the appendices of Herbert Dingle's book ''Science at the Crossroads''.</ref> | This culminated in his 1972 book, ''Science at the Crossroads'' in which he argued that any attempts to argue with Einstein's special theory of relativity will be ruthlessly suppressed.<ref> by Herbert Dingle</ref><ref> This article links two PDF files: The body and the appendices of Herbert Dingle's book ''Science at the Crossroads''.</ref> | ||
| In that book Dingle also raised objections against Einstein's 1918 solution of the ]. | |||
| In that book Dingle also raised objections against Einstein's 1918 solution of the ]. An article by Chang about Dingle's "rebellion" argues that his objections were largely philosophical and not well understood. As Dingle had claimed that Einstein's prediction about a moving clock was in error and experiments showed ], the consensus in the physics community was and still is that Dingle was wrong.<ref name=chang>Chang, H. "A Misunderstood Rebellion: The Twin-Paradox Controversy and Herbert Dingle's Vision Of Science", Studies In History and Philosophy of Science, Vol 24 (1993), pp 741–790.</ref> | |||
| It is believed that the consensus within the mainstream physics community today is that Dingle was wrong. This perceived consensus could of course be explained in part at least by the fact that mainstream scientific journals steadfastly refuse to publish material that is critical of Einstein, exactly as predicted by Dingle's book. | |||
| Dingle is also known for his 1922 essay, "Relativity for All", and his 1940 text book ''The Special Theory of Relativity''. A collection of Dingle's lectures on the history and philosophy of science was published in 1954.<ref>''The Scientific Adventure: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science'', 1954, re-published in 1970 by Ayer Publishing.</ref> He also took an interest in English literature, and published "Science and Literary Criticism" in 1949, and "The Mind of Emily Bronte" in 1974. | Dingle is also known for his 1922 essay, "Relativity for All", and his 1940 text book ''The Special Theory of Relativity''. A collection of Dingle's lectures on the history and philosophy of science was published in 1954.<ref>''The Scientific Adventure: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science'', 1954, re-published in 1970 by Ayer Publishing.</ref> He also took an interest in English literature, and published "Science and Literary Criticism" in 1949, and "The Mind of Emily Bronte" in 1974. | ||
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Herbert Dingle (1890–1978), an English astronomer and president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1951 to 1953, is best remembered for his opposition to Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Dingle was born in London, but spent his early years in Plymouth, where he was taken following the death of his father, and where he attended Plymouth Science, Art and Technical Schools. Due to lack of money, he left school at the age of 14 and found employment as a clerk, a job which he held for 11 years. At age 25 he won a scholarship to the Imperial College, London, from which he graduated in 1918. (As a Quaker, Dingle was exempt from military service during World War I.) He took a position as a Demonstrator in the Physics Department, and devoted himself to the study of spectroscopy (following his mentor Alfred Fowler), especially its applications in astronomy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1922.
Dingle married Alice Westacott in 1918, and they had one son. Alice died in 1947.
He was a member of the British government eclipse expeditions of 1927 (Colwyn Bay) and 1932 (Montreal), both of which failed to make any observations due to overcast skies. He spent most of 1932 at the California Institute of Technology as a Rockefeller Foundation Scholar. There he met the theoretical cosmologist R. C. Tolman, and studied relativistic cosmology.
Dingle became a professor of Natural Philosophy at Imperial College in 1938, and was a professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London from 1946 until his retirement in 1955. He founded what later became the British Society for the Philosophy of Science as well as its journal, the British Journal for The Philosophy of Science.
Dingle participated in two highly public and polemical disputes. The first took place during the 1930s, triggered by Dingle's criticism of E. A. Milne's cosmological model and the associated theoretical methodology, which Dingle considered pernicious.
The second dispute in the 1960's was with the astrophysicist William H. McCrea and centered on Dingle's objections to the theory of special relativity. This culminated in his 1972 book, Science at the Crossroads in which he argued that any attempts to argue with Einstein's special theory of relativity will be ruthlessly suppressed. In that book Dingle also raised objections against Einstein's 1918 solution of the twin paradox.
It is believed that the consensus within the mainstream physics community today is that Dingle was wrong. This perceived consensus could of course be explained in part at least by the fact that mainstream scientific journals steadfastly refuse to publish material that is critical of Einstein, exactly as predicted by Dingle's book.
Dingle is also known for his 1922 essay, "Relativity for All", and his 1940 text book The Special Theory of Relativity. A collection of Dingle's lectures on the history and philosophy of science was published in 1954. He also took an interest in English literature, and published "Science and Literary Criticism" in 1949, and "The Mind of Emily Bronte" in 1974.
References
- Whitrow, "Obituarys: Herbert Dingle", Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 21, p. 333–338, 1980.
- "Cosmology: Methodological Debates in the 1930s and 1940s"from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Dingle, H. (October 14 1967). "The Case against Special Relativity". Nature: 119.
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McCrea, W.H. (October 14 1967). "Why The Special Theory of Relativity is Correct". Nature: 122.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Science at the Crossroads by Herbert Dingle
- "Challenging Einstein's Special Relativity: Herbert Dingle — Science at the Crossroads" This article links two PDF files: The body and the appendices of Herbert Dingle's book Science at the Crossroads.
- The Scientific Adventure: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science, 1954, re-published in 1970 by Ayer Publishing.
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