Paul Wesley

This article is about J. Paul Wesley (1921–2007), the American physicist of Weber-type electrodynamics and neo-Newtonian mechanics. For Paul S. Wesson (1949–2015), the British-Canadian cosmologist of Space-Time-Matter (5D) theory, see Paul Wesson.

Paul Wesley
Born	(1921-07-28)July 28, 1921
Died	January 20, 2007(2007-01-20) (aged 85)
Residence	78176 Blumberg, Germany
Nationality	USA
Known for	Quantum Theory, Electrodynamics, Toroidal Ring
Scientific career
Fields	Physicist

James Paul Wesley (28 July 1921 – 20 January 2007), who published as J. P. Wesley or J. Paul Wesley, was an American theoretical and mathematical physicist and one of the most prolific dissident authors of the late twentieth century. Trained at the University of Minnesota and UCLA and a professor of physics at the University of Missouri–Rolla for eleven years, he spent the last three decades of his life in Blumberg, Germany, writing, publishing and organizing on behalf of a physics rebuilt on Absolute Space and absolute time. He is best known for his extension of the Weber force law into a complete electrodynamics — often called Weber-Wesley electrodynamics — for his neo-Newtonian, causal reading of quantum mechanics, for a scalar gravitation theory in absolute space-time, and, with David L. Bergman, for the first spinning charged Toroidal Ring model of the electron.

Biography

"James Paul Wesley was born in 1921 in St. Louis. He obtained his BA from the U. of Minnesota in 1943 and his MA and PhD from U. California Los Angeles in 1951. He is the father of eight children. In addition to being an established theoretical and mathematical physicist, he is an internationally recognized artist for his oils. His experience includes a postdoctorate at Scripps Inst. Oceanography, a professorship at the U. Idaho, a research position with Newmont Exploration Ltd., a Fellowship at the Ctr. Adv. Study in Behavioral Sciences, research positions at Denver Research Inst., Melpar, and Roland F. Beers. Like many physicists with a conscience, Wesley's agitation for peace without nuclear war resulted in the loss of employment and other harrassment. He was a professor at the U. Missouri, Rolla for 10 years. A sabbatical year was spent with I. Prigogine in Brussels In addition to a US patent, Wesley has over 90 publications to his credit and is the author of" eight books. - From Causal Quantum Theory (1983).

Residing in Germany during his retirement years, Paul Wesley's pioneering work in dissident physics in the 1980s and 1990s anticipated much of what has and what is certain yet to transpire in the 21st century. Along with ground-breaking colleagues like Stefan Marinov, Franco Selleri, and Umberto Bartocci, Wesley organized and motivated the early dissident community in Europe, editing several conference proceedings in addition to writing seven self-published books of his own. In 1991, he coauthored with David L. Bergman the paper that first proposed a toroidal ring model for the electron. With a publication total in excess of 100, Wesley was mentioned several years in Who's Who in the World and in Who's Who in Physics.

Paul Wesley married Gabriele Wesley-Modest in Berlin, and lived with her and three children Carl-Eric, Julia, and Benjamin in Berlin, Lenzkirch, and Blumberg. He died in Blumberg on 20 January 2007 and was buried at the Waldfriedhof in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Wesley graduated from Washburn High School in Minneapolis in 1939, took his B.A. at the University of Minnesota in 1943, and his M.A. (1949) and Ph.D. in physics (1952) at UCLA. Postdoctoral work followed at the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography under Carl Eckart. He then held a professorship at the University of Idaho at Moscow (1953–56), a research geophysicist post with Newmont Exploration Ltd. (1955–56), a research physicist position at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley (1956–61), a fellowship at Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences with a concurrent National Institutes of Health special fellowship (1961–62), and a research physicist post at the University of Denver (1962–63), before joining the University of Missouri–Rolla as professor of physics (1963–74). Over his career he worked on contracts for the Department of Energy, NASA and the Department of Commerce.

Career highlights:

• 1961-1962: Fellowship, The Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California
  Concurrent Special Fellowship: National Institutes of Health
• 1962-1963: Denver Research Institute effort on writing the book ecophysics — the application of physics to ecology
  6 months working with Melpar, Inc., Falls Church, Virginia
• 1963-1974: University of Missouri-Rolla, Professor. The university provided a research grant for the summer 1967.
• 1965-1966: NASA provided a year's grant to estimate the likelihood of life existing in the solar system.
• 1971: Sabbatical with I. Prigogine at the University Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
• 1974-2007: Living and doing research in Germany

Benjamin Wesley, publisher

After settling in Germany, Wesley found the mainstream journals largely closed to his foundational work and responded by founding his own imprint, Benjamin Wesley, at Weiherdammstrasse 24, 78176 Blumberg, named for one of his sons and run with his wife Gabriele. Through it he issued his own major treatises — Causal Quantum Theory (1983), Selected Topics in Advanced Fundamental Physics (1991), Classical Quantum Theory (1996), Selected Topics in Scientific Physics (2002) and Light, a Photon Flux and Other Topics (2006) — as well as a 1997 reissue of Ecophysics and several volumes of conference proceedings from the European dissident meetings of the 1980s and 1990s. The imprint made Wesley one of the very few critics of relativity in that era with a stable, self-controlled channel for book-length argument, and it became a fixture of the early dissident network alongside Stefan Marinov's Deutsche Physik and Petr Beckmann's Galilean Electrodynamics.

Scientific contributions

Weber-Wesley electrodynamics

Wesley's most influential work is his reconstruction of electrodynamics on the foundation of Wilhelm Eduard Weber's 1846 force law rather than on Maxwell's field equations and the Lorentz force. Weber's law is a direct action-at-a-distance force between charges depending only on relational quantities — the separation and the relative radial velocity and acceleration — and it reduces to Coulomb's law for charges at rest and yields Ampère's original force law between neutral current elements. Wesley's contribution, set out in the three-part series Weber Electrodynamics in Foundations of Physics Letters in 1990, was to extend the original Weber theory, valid only for slowly varying effects, to time-retarded fields valid for rapidly varying effects including radiation, and to derive a new law for the force on a charge moving in such a field to replace the Lorentz force — which, as Wesley emphasized, violates Newton's third law. The resulting scheme is now generally referred to as Weber-Wesley electrodynamics.

Wesley argued that this formulation is not merely an aesthetic alternative but is empirically superior, accounting for a family of results he held that Maxwell-Lorentz theory cannot handle:

• the longitudinal Ampère tension that drives Graneau's exploding wires and the Graneau-Hering submarine, and Hering's pump;
• the Moyssides-Pappas measurements on Ampère's original force law;
• unipolar induction, where Wesley (with A. G. Kelly) held that the standard flux rule fails and a more general law of induction is required;
• the operation of the Marinov motor, which he analysed as motional induction occurring without any magnetic B field;
• the behaviour of the "Z antenna" and of longitudinal and mixed electrodynamic waves, which have no place in transverse-only Maxwell theory.

In the same spirit he wrote the widely cited "Faraday's Law is Wrong; Changing Magnetic Flux Does Not Cause Induction" (2000), arguing that the flux rule is a coincidence of special cases rather than a law of nature. His 1989 paper "Evidence For Weber-Wesley Electrodynamics" gathers the experimental case, and the theory continues to be discussed on this wiki and in the CNPS seminar series.

Absolute space and time; criticism of special relativity

Wesley rejected special relativity outright, holding that the experimental record supports a Newtonian absolute space and a universal time, with the observed effects arising from motion relative to that frame rather than from any relativity of simultaneity. He interpreted the Michelson-Morley null result not as evidence against a preferred frame but as a classical Doppler (Voigt-Doppler) effect in absolute space-time — the interferometer, he argued, is constructed so as to be insensitive to the very motion it is supposed to detect — and published this analysis repeatedly, culminating in "Michelson-Morley Result Proves Special Relativity Wrong" (2005) and "Michelson-Morley Null Result for Sound of Light: A Classical Doppler Effect" in the Hadronic Journal (2005).

For positive evidence of the absolute frame he pointed to anisotropy measurements: Silvertooth's standing-wave measurement of the absolute velocity of the solar system, which he repeated in simplified form; Marinov's toothed-wheels experiment; and the anisotropy of the cosmic muon flux, from which he derived a solar-system velocity. He also attacked the relativistic treatment of thermodynamics ("Laying the Ghost of Relativistic Thermodynamics", 1997) and questioned whether time dilation is even approximately valid (1980).

Neo-Newtonian mechanics and Wesley gravitation

Part III of the 1990 Weber Electrodynamics series extended the relational programme from electrodynamics to mechanics and gravitation. Wesley developed a scalar gravitation theory in absolute space-time incorporating mass-energy equivalence — sometimes called Wesley gravitation — in which gravitational effects are described by a Weber-type velocity- and acceleration-dependent potential rather than by curved spacetime, and he connected it to a Weber cosmological condition ("Weber Cosmological Condition and Wesley Gravitation", Physics Essays, 2001). He also argued for inertial mass-energy equivalence on classical grounds (Physics Essays, 2001), and, on the cosmological side, presented "Rigorous Evidence for a Nonexpanding Universe" (2000) and an order-versus-chaos treatment of a steady-state cosmology (1996), rejecting the Big Bang — the subject of his German-language volume Die Urknalltheorie fällt.

Causal and classical quantum theory

From his 1961 Physical Review paper onward Wesley pursued a classical, causal and deterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics, in which the wave function describes a real physical wave rather than a probability amplitude and no observer-created collapse is required. He set the programme out at book length in Causal Quantum Theory (1983) and Classical Quantum Theory (1996), and in papers such as "Causal Quantum Mechanics with Phase and Particle Velocities Equal" (1965) and "Resolution of the Classical Wave-Particle Problem" (1984). He held that the Copenhagen formalism fails as a physical theory ("The Failure of Quantum Mechanics", 1996), and treated light as a flux of photons emitted in stochastic bursts rather than as a continuous field — the theme of his last book, Light, a Photon Flux and Other Topics (2006).

Toroidal ring model of the electron

With David L. Bergman, Wesley published "Spinning Charged Ring Model of Electron Yielding Anomalous Magnetic Moment" in Galilean Electrodynamics vol. 1, pp. 63–67 (Sept./Oct. 1990). The model treats the electron as a uniformly charged spinning ring with four parameters — the ring radius R, the half-thickness r, the total charge e, and a tangential velocity c — fixed so as to reproduce four measured electron properties: mass, charge, spin ℏ/2, and magnetic moment. The ring radius comes out equal to the rationalized Compton wavelength, about 3.86 × 10^-13 m. The authors showed the configuration is stable under electromagnetic forces alone, that a continuous ring current does not radiate, and that the factor of two in the electron gyromagnetic ratio — the "anomalous" g ≈ 2 normally attributed to quantum electrodynamics — follows from the geometry. The paper became the starting point for the Toroidal Ring electron programme later developed at Common Sense Science.

Ecophysics

Outside foundational physics, Wesley was an early advocate of applying physical method to ecology. Ecophysics: The Application of Physics to Ecology (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1974; reissued by Benjamin Wesley in 1997) grew out of work begun at the Denver Research Institute, and in 1965–66 NASA funded him for a year to estimate the likelihood of life existing elsewhere in the solar system.

Discussed in CNPS talks

Wesley's work on induction is taken up in the CNPS online seminar series:

• "Kelly's Experiments on Unipolar Induction - with Dr. Ian Cowan" (18 December 2022) — Dr. Ian J. Cowan examines A. G. Kelly's experiments on electromagnetic induction and provides a mathematical formalism for a more general law of induction, as suggested by Kelly and J. P. Wesley.

Abstracts

• 2007 - "'It Ain't Necessarily So': Nature's Little Surprises and How to Accept Them (The John Chappell Memorial Lecture)"
• 2007 - "Some Errors of Classical Physics "
• 2005 - "Michelson-Morley Null Result for Sound of Light: A Classical Doppler Effect"
• 2005 - "Michelson-Morley Result Proves Special Relativity Wrong"
• 2005 - "Special Relativity and Other Beliefs "
• 2005 - "Time Perception as a Function of Age"
• 2003 - "Book Review: Selected Topics in Scientific Physics" (Read in full)
• 2000 - "Faradays Law is Wrong; Changing Magnetic Flux Does Not Cause Induction"
• 2000 - "Reasons Why Serious Physics Research Is Not Funded And How To Get It Funded?"
• 2000 - "Rigorous Evidence for a Nonexpanding Universe"
• 2000 - "Transverse, Longitudinal and Mixed Electrodynamic Waves"
• 1998 - "The Marinov Motor, Notional Induction without a Magnetic B Field" (Read in full)
• 1997 - "Evidence for Newtonian Absolute Space and Time"
• 1997 - "Laying the Ghost of Relativistic Thermodynamics"
• 1996 - "The Failure of Quantum Mechanics"
• 1996 - "Order versus Chaos in a Steady-State Cosmology" (Read in full)
• 1996 - "Solar System Velocity from Muon Flux Anisotropy" (Read in full)
• 1993 - "Light Radiates as Stochastic Bursts of Photons"
• 1990 - "Spinning Charged Ring Model of Electron Yielding Anomalous Magnetic Moment" (Read in full)
• 1990 - "Weber Electrodynamics Part I: General Theory, Steady Current Effects"
• 1989 - "Evidence For Weber-Wesley Electrodynamics"
• 1988 - "A Scalar Gravitation Theory in Absolute Space-Time"
• 1987 - "Ampere's Original Force Law Compared with the Moyssides-Pappas Results"
• 1987 - "Ampere Repulsion Drives the Graneau-Hering Submarine and Hering?s Pump"
• 1987 - "Ampere Repulsion and Graneau?s Exploding Wires"
• 1987 - "Marinov's Toothed-Wheels Measurement of Absolute Velocity of Solar System"
• 1987 - "Michelson-Morley Result, a Voigt-Doppler Effect in Absolute Space-Time"
• 1987 - "Silvertooth's Standing-Wave Measurement of Absolute Velocity of Solar System a,b,c"
• 1987 - "A Simplified Repetition of Silvertooth's Measurement of the Absolute Velocity of the Solar System"
• 1987 - "Space-Time"
• 1987 - "Weber Electrodynamics Extended to Include Radiation"
• 1987 - "Weber Electrodynamics with Fields, Waves, and Absolute Space"
• 1984 - "Resolution of the Classical Wave-Particle Problem"
• 1980 - "Is "Time Dilation" Only Approximately Valid?"
• 1965 - "Causal Quantum Mechanics with Phase and Particle Velocities Equal"

Books

• 2006 - "Light: a Photon Flux and Other Topics" (Benjamin Wesley, Blumberg; ISBN 3-9800942-10-2)
• 2005 - "Die Urknalltheorie faellt. Was von moderner Physik bleibt und faellt. Band 3" (Read in full)
• 2002 - "Selected Topics in Scientific Physics" (Benjamin Wesley, Blumberg; ISBN 3-9800942-9-4)
• 1998 - "Physics as a Science: Proceedings from the Cologne 1997 Conference" (Read in full)
• 1996 - "Classical Quantum Theory" (Benjamin Wesley, Blumberg)
• 1991 - "Selected Topics in Advanced Fundamental Physics" (Benjamin Wesley, Blumberg; ISBN 3-9800942-4-3)
• 1989 - "Proceedings of the Conference on Foundations in Mathematics and Physics"
• 1987 - "Progress in Space-Time Physics" (editor)
• 1983 - "Causal Quantum Theory" (Benjamin Wesley, Blumberg; ISBN 3-9800942-0-0)
• 1982 - "Proceedings of the International Conference on Space-Time Absoluteness (ICSTA), Genova (Italy), 8-11 of July, 1982"
• 1974 - "Ecophysics: The Application of Physics to Ecology" (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois; ISBN 0398029598) (Read in full)

Selected journal papers

• "Classical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics", Physical Review 122 (6), 1961.
• "Weber Electrodynamics, Part I. General Theory, Steady Current Effects", Foundations of Physics Letters 3 (5), 443–469 (1990).
• "Weber Electrodynamics, Part II. Unipolar Induction, Z Antenna", Foundations of Physics Letters 3 (5), 471–490 (1990).
• "Weber Electrodynamics, Part III. Mechanics, Gravitation", Foundations of Physics Letters 3 (6), 581–605 (1990).
• D. L. Bergman and J. P. Wesley, "Spinning Charged Ring Model of Electron Yielding Anomalous Magnetic Moment", Galilean Electrodynamics 1, 63–67 (1990).
• "Inertial Mass Energy Equivalence", Physics Essays 14 (1), 2001.
• "Weber Cosmological Condition and Wesley Gravitation", Physics Essays 14 (2), 2001.
• "The Two Velocities of Classical Waves", Physics Essays 17 (2), 2004.
• "Michelson-Morley Result, a Classical Doppler Effect", Hadronic Journal 28 (5), 2005.

External links

• jamespaulwesley.org — memorial site holding his biography, complete bibliography and scanned papers
• Extended bibliography
• "Weber Electrodynamics, Part I" (PDF)
• "Weber Electrodynamics, Part III: Mechanics, Gravitation" (PDF)
• "Spinning Charged Ring Model of Electron" (PDF)
• "Inertial Mass Energy Equivalence" (PDF)
• Google Scholar profile