John W Kierein: Difference between revisions

John W. Kierein
John W. Kierein
Born	1936
Residence	Broomfield, CO, United States
Nationality	USA
Known for	Big Bang, Gravity, Hubble's Constant, Compton Effect, Redshift, Expansion Tectonics
	Scientific career
Fields	Aerospace, Astrophysics

← Older edit

Latest revision as of 10:26, 20 July 2026

John W. Kierein (born 1936) is an American aerospace engineer and independent researcher best known for advocating a Compton Effect interpretation of astronomical redshift. Kierein argues that cosmological redshift is produced not by the expansion of space, as in the Big Bang model, but by an inelastic scattering of light passing through the tenuous electron plasma of intergalactic space, a proposal that belongs to the broader family of "tired light" cosmologies. He is also associated with theories of "pushing gravity" and an expanding Earth. His views lie outside the mainstream of modern cosmology, and his scattering model has been criticized by professional astrophysicists.

Biography

Kierein spent his professional career in the American aerospace industry. He worked for Ball Aerospace & Technologies while living in Boulder, Colorado, and later for KinetX, where he contributed to the Iridium satellite program in the mid-1990s while living in Phoenix, Arizona. He also worked as a consultant for Raytheon in the Boston area. He has resided in Broomfield, Colorado.

Kierein was active in a series of dissident-science organizations. He won a contest sponsored by the Association for Pushing Gravity Research (APGR), organized by Bill Carnahan of Austin, Texas, and subsequently served as the group's president. Together with John Chappell and others he helped arrange meetings—held in venues such as Fort Collins and Flagstaff, Arizona, and later the University of Connecticut—out of which grew the Natural Philosophy Alliance (NPA). Kierein served as an early president of the NPA before relinquishing the role to Chappell around the turn of the century.

Over his career Kierein corresponded and collaborated with a number of scientists who questioned aspects of mainstream cosmology, including the radio-astronomy pioneer Grote Reber, the physicist Paul Marmet, and the astronomer Halton Arp, a leading critic of the redshift–distance relationship. He also corresponded extensively with the geologist S. Warren Carey, a proponent of the expanding-Earth hypothesis, offering comments on Carey's 1988 book Theories of the Earth and Universe.

Scientific contributions

Kierein's central idea is that the redshift of light from distant astronomical objects is caused by the Compton Effect rather than by Doppler motion or the expansion of the universe. In 1968 he and Brooks M. Sharp published a paper in the journal Solar Physics proposing that the observed solar redshift—greater at the limb of the Sun than at its center—arises from Compton scattering of sunlight by electrons in the solar atmosphere, the shift being larger toward the limb because more electrons lie along the line of sight. Kierein and Reber independently advanced Compton-effect interpretations of the cosmological redshift within a few months of one another.

To make the scattering produce a redshift proportional to wavelength, as required by observations, Kierein's treatment introduces an additional factor of the ratio of the wavelength to the Compton wavelength into the standard Thomson scattering cross-section, and describes the scattering electrons as centers of Huygens' secondary wavelets reconstructing the wavefront. In this framework the universe is static rather than expanding, and no cosmic expansion or dark matter is required to account for the redshift.

Kierein extended these ideas into a broader program. He proposed a "pushing gravity" mechanism in which gravitation results from a net push by long-wavelength background radiation, and he suggested that this same mechanism could drive the accretion of planetary mass and the expansion of the Earth (Expansion Tectonics).

Kierein's Compton model has been criticized by mainstream astrophysicists. Ned Wright of UCLA and others have argued that the nonstandard modification of the scattering cross-section is not permitted by observation, and that Compton scattering would blur and shift images in ways inconsistent with the sharpness of distant sources. His work is therefore not accepted within mainstream physics and cosmology, and is regarded as a non-standard, alternative interpretation.

Abstracts

External links

Kierein, J. W. & Sharp, B. M. (1968), "Compton Effect Interpretation of Solar Red Shift", Solar Physics 3, 450–453 (NASA ADS)
"Kierein's Erroneous Compton Model for the Redshift" — critique by Edward L. Wright, UCLA

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | image = John W Kierein 134.jpg
 | alt = John W. Kierein
-| birth_date = {{birth date|1936|00|00|mf=y}}
+| birth_date = 1936
 | residence = Broomfield, CO, United States
 | nationality = USA
-| known_for = [[Big Bang]], [[Gravity]], [[Hubble\'s Constant]], [[Compton Effect]], [[Redshift]], [[Expansion Tectonics]]
+| fields = [[Aerospace]], Astrophysics
+| known_for = [[Big Bang]], [[Gravity]], [[Hubble's Constant]], [[Compton Effect]], [[Redshift]], [[Expansion Tectonics]]
 }}
-Some of my history as a critical thinker...
+'''John W. Kierein''' (born 1936) is an American aerospace engineer and independent researcher best known for advocating a [[Compton Effect]] interpretation of astronomical [[redshift]]. Kierein argues that cosmological redshift is produced not by the expansion of space, as in the [[Big Bang]] model, but by an inelastic scattering of light passing through the tenuous electron plasma of intergalactic space, a proposal that belongs to the broader family of "tired light" cosmologies. He is also associated with theories of "pushing gravity" and an [[Expansion Tectonics|expanding Earth]]. His views lie outside the mainstream of modern cosmology, and his scattering model has been criticized by professional astrophysicists.
-Bill Carnahan of Austin TX used to advertise in Popular Science that the Association for Pushing Gravity Research had a contest (Like the Gravity Foundation still does) for the best article on Pushing Gravity. I won the contest and gave my paper to the Austin Amateur Astronomical society meeting at the Austin Country Club. Bill liked me so much he made me the President of the APGR. This may have been in the 1980s? A couple years later the APGR had a meeting at a college in CA. I think it was the Orange Coast College which may now be Long Beach City College. I gave a paper there, too. John Chappell showed up and we had some lengthy talks after the meeting and then several communications later. I was working in the aerospace world and had a lot of work to do and John volunteered to help out arranging some further meetings. A physics Prof. at Colorado State in Ft. Collins, CO held regional meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and John arranged with him to allow us to have a session in that meeting at Ft. Collins. I lived in Boulder at the time working at Ball aerospace. I think we renamed the organization the Natural Philosophy Alliance about that time. We later had another similar meeting with the same group at Flagstaff, AZ at Northern Arizona University. I think I may have relinquished my presidency to John around that time, due to pressures of my work. I was living in Phoenix then, working for KinetX on Iridium, and this was probably around the mid 90s.
+==Biography==
-Grote Reber, (inventor of radio astronomy) was a good friend of mine and Grote had some correspondence with John as well as with me. Grote came to visit me for a few days in Phoenix. We went to the meeting in Flagstaff and Grote and I and Paul Marmet gave papers on Compton effect red shifts and I on Pushing Gravity as well. Grote and I also toured the famous Lowell Observatory there. John later arranged an NPA meeting at U Connecticut. I was corresponding with Halton Arp a lot over the years (I had met with him at Pasadena before he had been kicked out and he had to move to Max Planck in Munich.). I told Arp about the Connecticut meeting and I was able to come down from a consulting job I had with Raytheon in the Boston area at the time. Paul Marmet was there and Arp showed up late and was glad to see us. Arp had come into the country for a reunion of his prep school and was able to give a talk. I also gave a paper there. John was in full control of the NPA then but was having insurrections in the group. John could be rather abrasive. He was pretty poor and was always scrambling for cash, and there arguments over funding the meetings. I left the group around that time. This must have been sometime around the early 2000s. I was "President of the APGR" but Bill Carnahan really was the organizer. Then I was President of the NPA and then maybe "honorary President" for a while, while Chappel took over?
+Kierein spent his professional career in the American aerospace industry. He worked for [[Ball Aerospace|Ball Aerospace & Technologies]] while living in Boulder, Colorado, and later for KinetX, where he contributed to the Iridium satellite program in the mid-1990s while living in Phoenix, Arizona. He also worked as a consultant for Raytheon in the Boston area. He has resided in Broomfield, Colorado.
-I was also involved with the idea of the expanding earth. My pushing gravity theory predicts a mechanism for earth expansion. I had some extensive correspondence with S. Warren Carey and he sent me his manuscript of the book "Theories of the Earth and Universe, 413 pp., Stanford University Press. 1988" I gave him several comments, most minor which he incorporated, but instead of using my mechanism, kept the steady state universe theory theory of Tom Gold and Fred Hoyle as his mechanism.
+Kierein was active in a series of dissident-science organizations. He won a contest sponsored by the Association for Pushing Gravity Research (APGR), organized by Bill Carnahan of Austin, Texas, and subsequently served as the group's president. Together with [[John Chappell]] and others he helped arrange meetings—held in venues such as Fort Collins and Flagstaff, Arizona, and later the University of Connecticut—out of which grew the [[Natural Philosophy Alliance]] (NPA). Kierein served as an early president of the NPA before relinquishing the role to Chappell around the turn of the century.
+Over his career Kierein corresponded and collaborated with a number of scientists who questioned aspects of mainstream cosmology, including the radio-astronomy pioneer [[Grote Reber]], the physicist [[Paul Marmet]], and the astronomer [[Halton Arp]], a leading critic of the redshift–distance relationship. He also corresponded extensively with the geologist S. Warren Carey, a proponent of the expanding-Earth hypothesis, offering comments on Carey's 1988 book ''Theories of the Earth and Universe''.
+==Scientific contributions==
+Kierein's central idea is that the redshift of light from distant astronomical objects is caused by the [[Compton Effect]] rather than by [[Doppler]] motion or the expansion of the universe. In 1968 he and Brooks M. Sharp published a paper in the journal ''Solar Physics'' proposing that the observed solar redshift—greater at the limb of the Sun than at its center—arises from Compton scattering of sunlight by electrons in the solar atmosphere, the shift being larger toward the limb because more electrons lie along the line of sight. Kierein and Reber independently advanced Compton-effect interpretations of the cosmological redshift within a few months of one another.
+To make the scattering produce a redshift proportional to wavelength, as required by observations, Kierein's treatment introduces an additional factor of the ratio of the wavelength to the Compton wavelength into the standard Thomson scattering cross-section, and describes the scattering electrons as centers of Huygens' secondary wavelets reconstructing the wavefront. In this framework the universe is static rather than expanding, and no cosmic expansion or [[dark matter]] is required to account for the redshift.
+Kierein extended these ideas into a broader program. He proposed a "pushing gravity" mechanism in which gravitation results from a net push by long-wavelength background radiation, and he suggested that this same mechanism could drive the accretion of planetary mass and the expansion of the Earth ([[Expansion Tectonics]]).
+Kierein's Compton model has been criticized by mainstream astrophysicists. Ned Wright of UCLA and others have argued that the nonstandard modification of the scattering cross-section is not permitted by observation, and that Compton scattering would blur and shift images in ways inconsistent with the sharpness of distant sources. His work is therefore not accepted within mainstream physics and cosmology, and is regarded as a non-standard, alternative interpretation.
 ==Abstracts==
 * 2007 - "[[Gravitation as a Compton Effect Redshift of Long Wavelength Background Radiation]]"
 * 2000 - "[[Gravity as a Push from Long Wavelength Background Radiation]]"
 * 1996 - "[[The Stability of the Static Universe with the Compton Effect Red Shift]]"
 * 1992 - "[[A Mechanism for Particle Acceleration in Space Plasmas and for Planetary Mass Accretion]]" ([http://www.naturalphilosophy.org/pdf/abstracts/abstracts_1035.pdf Read in full])
 * 1987 - "[[Why the Big Bang is Wrong]]"
 * 1983 - "[[Implications of the Compton Effect Interpretation of the Red Shift]]"
 * 1975 - "[[Implications of the Compton Effect Interpretation of Red Shift]]"
 * 1968 - "[[The Compton Effect Interpretation of Solar Red Shift]]"
+==External links==
+* [https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1968SoPh....3..450K Kierein, J. W. & Sharp, B. M. (1968), "Compton Effect Interpretation of Solar Red Shift", Solar Physics 3, 450–453] (NASA ADS)
+* [https://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/kierein.html "Kierein's Erroneous Compton Model for the Redshift"] — critique by Edward L. Wright, UCLA
 [[Category:Scientist|Kierein John]]
 [[Category:Expansion Tectonics|Kierein John]]
+[[Category:Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists]]
+[[Category:Redshift]]
+[[Category:Astronomy]]
+[[Category:Big Bang]]