Franz-Günter Winkler
Franz-Günter Winkler | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Four-dimensional Euclidean interpretation of special relativity ("spacetime holism") |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Foundations of physics, special relativity, cognitive science |
Franz-Günter Winkler is a researcher known for proposing an alternative, completely four-dimensional Euclidean interpretation of special relativity. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
Winkler develops what he calls a "spacetime holism," in which physical events are represented in a fully Euclidean four-dimensional geometry rather than the Minkowski (pseudo-Euclidean) spacetime of standard relativity. In his paper "The Normalization Problem of Special Relativity" (Physics Essays, vol. 15, no. 2, June 2002, p. 199) he offers a critique of established interpretations of the theory and derives special-relativistic effects from this Euclidean starting point. He extended the same geometric program to gravitation in "Founding Gravitation in 4D Euclidean Space-Time Geometry" (AIP Conference Proceedings, 2010) and in "Diagonal Metrics of Static, Spherically Symmetric Fields" (International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 2013).
Winkler has also applied his holistic view of space and time to questions in cognitive science and consciousness, in papers such as "An Outside View of Space and Time" and "Spacetime Holism and the Hard Problem of Consciousness," several of which appeared in the proceedings of the CASYS (Computing Anticipatory Systems) conferences.
His Euclidean reformulation lies outside the scientific mainstream, which retains the Minkowski geometry of special relativity; Winkler presents his approach as an alternative interpretation aimed at resolving what he regards as conceptual problems in the standard theory.