David McGoveran
David McGoveran | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Known for | Ordering operator calculus; bit-string physics |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics, Computer science |
| Institutions | SLAC Theory Group; Alternative Technologies |
David McGoveran is an American physicist and computer scientist known for his work on the discrete and finite foundations of physics, developed in collaboration with H. Pierre Noyes. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
McGoveran studied physics and mathematics at the University of Chicago and pursued graduate studies at Stanford University. From the early 1980s he worked with H. Pierre Noyes in the Theory Group at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) on the "combinatorial hierarchy" and what came to be called bit-string physics, a program that seeks to derive physical quantities from finite, discrete combinatorial constructions rather than continuous mathematics.
He is the author of the "ordering operator calculus," which he presents as a purely discrete and finite justification for differential geometry, and he applied combinatorial methods to compute the fine structure constant and to derive a fine-structure spectrum of hydrogen, work published with Noyes. These ideas fall outside the mainstream of theoretical physics and are associated with the Alternative Natural Philosophy Association (ANPA), of which McGoveran was a co-founder of the ANPA West group with Noyes. His physics papers appeared in venues such as Physics Essays.
Separately from his physics work, McGoveran is known professionally as a researcher and consultant in relational database theory and business process management.