On the orbit of Mercury, on page 171, Beckmann writes: "… Einstein was not the first to derive the Mercury formula. It had been derived 17 years earlier by Paul Gerber [1898] by classical physics using the same assumption that I am using now \u2014 the propagation of gravity with velocity c<\/i><\/b>. For readers who find this hard to believe, Gerber’s final expression is reproduced here: …". After reprinting Gerber’s formula as it appeared in Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Mathematik und Physik<\/i>, vol. 43, p. 103, Beckmann notes that this formula is now known as "the Einstein formula". http:\/\/explorersfoundation.org\/glyphery\/496.html<\/a>) <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Alas, I found the usual results: most physicists don\u2019t study relativity at all, but they do hear people they respect say that it\u2019s absolutely proven, and quite properly assume it doesn\u2019t need further investigation. Perhaps so, but Beckmann, who thoroughly understood both General and Special Relativity, thought it a needless sacred cow and proceeded to offer alternatives. See Beckmann, Einstein Plus Two<\/em>. He claims to cover all the known evidence, not in an attempt to refute either eneral or special relativity but to show they are not needed to explain what experiments have shown. Obviously relativity theory works, but it may be leading to some needless postulates about cosmology that make things more, not less, difficult to understand \u2013 a sort of Occam\u2019s barber shop floor principle rather than Occam\u2019s razor. But that\u2019s kicking sacred cows, and it\u2019s more a sport than a science even if it could be important.<\/p>\n And I am off to another panel.<\/p>\n The convention is formally over and we\u2019re about to go to dinner somewhere. I\u2019ll see what I can do about catching up when I get back. And we returned, and had the last meetings, and I am going to try to get a mailbag out before I go to bed. We return in the morning.<\/p>\n It has been a good weekend. There were panels on the future of education and what science fiction says about democracy, and can we save civilization? Bit hard to do in an hour, but we try to indicate ways of thinking about the problem, probably endind up with me sounding like a pretentious ass \u2013 old professors given an audience often do. Ah well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n View 734 Sunday, July 22, 2012 Still in Chattanooga with the ThinkPad. The IBM keyboard is pretty good but I find I am addicted to full size keyboards. Work with this one is slow. I\u2019m a sloppy typist anyway. I\u2019d have done better to learn two finger typing. Ah well. \u2026 Continue reading ![\"clip_image002\"](\"http:\/\/www.jerrypournelle.com\/chaosmanor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/clip_image002_thumb16.gif\" "\\"clip_image002\\"")
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