Anatoli Andrei Vankov
Anatoli Andrei Vankov | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Critique of Einstein's derivation of Mercury's perihelion advance |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics, general relativity |
Anatoli Andrei Vankov is a physicist and author known for critically re-examining the general-relativistic prediction of the perihelion advance of Mercury. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
In his paper "General Relativity Problem of Mercury's Perihelion Advance Revisited" (arXiv:1008.1811, 2010), Vankov argues that Einstein's original 1915 derivation of the perihelion-advance formula lacks rigor. He notes that the same formula was later obtained from the Schwarzschild "exact" solution, which Schwarzschild first presented in a letter to Einstein and claimed to be identical to Einstein's result. Vankov contends that although the two formulas are formally similar, some parameters in Schwarzschild's expression carry different physical meanings, so the results are not truly equivalent.
Vankov also collaborated with Roger Rydin (University of Virginia) on an annotated translation of Einstein's 1915 paper on Mercury's perihelion motion. His conclusions, which challenge a classic empirical confirmation of general relativity, fall outside the accepted physics consensus.