Electric Universe

Scientific Theory
Name	Electric Universe
Type	Alternative cosmology / plasma cosmology
Author(s)	Ralph Juergens, Wallace Thornhill, David Talbott, Donald Scott and others
Keywords	plasma cosmology, Electric Sun, Birkeland currents, Cosmology, plasma
Year	1970s–present
Website	https://www.thunderbolts.info/

The Electric Universe (EU) is a body of alternative cosmological ideas which holds that electricity and plasma, rather than gravity acting alone, are the dominant organizing forces in the cosmos. Its proponents argue that electric currents flow through space on all scales — powering stars, shaping galaxies, and driving many phenomena that conventional astrophysics explains through gravity, nuclear fusion, magnetism, or exotic entities such as dark matter and black holes. The Electric Universe is not accepted by mainstream astrophysics, which regards it as a fringe or pseudoscientific model; on this wiki it is documented as a serious alternative research program.

Core ideas

• Plasma is fundamental. Because most of the visible matter in the universe is ionized plasma — an electrically conducting medium — its behaviour is governed by electromagnetic forces, which are enormously stronger than gravity.
• Cosmic electric currents. Space is threaded by electric currents and their associated magnetic fields, often in the form of Birkeland currents and filaments, which organize matter into the observed cosmic web, galaxies, and stars.
• The Electric Sun. The Sun and other stars are held to be powered, at least in part, externally by galactic electric currents rather than solely by internal thermonuclear fusion — an idea originating with Ralph Juergens.
• Electric comets and planets. Comet phenomena, planetary surface features, and events such as lightning and aurorae are interpreted as electrical-discharge phenomena.
• Challenges to standard cosmology. EU proponents reject the Big Bang, and argue that the cosmological redshift, "dark matter," and "dark energy" are misinterpretations — often citing the intrinsic-redshift work of Halton Arp.

Intellectual roots

The Electric Universe draws on, and overlaps with, the older tradition of plasma cosmology associated with the Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén (magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics), Kristian Birkeland (field-aligned currents), and Anthony Peratt (plasma models of galaxies). It also has roots in the catastrophist ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky and in the "Saturn theory" of ancient planetary configurations developed by David Talbott. The specific "electric star" hypothesis was advanced in the 1970s by Ralph Juergens, and the broader synthesis was developed from the 1990s onward chiefly by Wallace Thornhill and Talbott.

Proponents and organizations

The leading modern advocates have included the physicist Wallace Thornhill (1942–2023), the comparative mythologist David Talbott, and the electrical engineer Donald Scott (author of The Electric Sky). The main organization promoting these ideas is The Thunderbolts Project, which publishes books and videos and holds Electric Universe conferences.

Key works on this wiki

• The Electric Universe (2007) — Thornhill and Talbott's introductory book on the model
• The Electric Sky — Donald Scott
• Thunderbolts of the Gods — Talbott and Thornhill
• See also the many titles indexed under Category:Electric Universe

Reception

The Electric Universe is rejected by the mainstream scientific community, which holds that its claims conflict with well-tested physics (for example, the observed neutrino flux and helioseismology of the Sun, and the successes of gravitational cosmology) and that it does not make successful quantitative predictions. Some of its advocates in turn draw a distinction between the broader, peer-reviewed plasma cosmology of Alfvén and Peratt and the more speculative claims of the Electric Universe movement.

See also

• Plasma
• Plasma Cosmology
• Cosmology
• Halton Arp
• Big Bang
• The Electric Universe (book)