Wild Speculations Of Michael Faraday

Faraday, the son of a blacksmith, was self-educated. He was weak in his knowledge of mathematics. Faraday arrived at brilliant theories, but could not sufficiently express them in mathematics. Later in his life, Faraday made connection with James Clerk Maxwell, a youthful admirer, who translated Faraday's ideas into mathematical language. These are known as Maxwell's field equations.

But until the arrival of Maxwell in Faraday's life, he lacked the means to succinctly express his theories. Filling Faraday's mind were "heretical ideas." To his critics, Faraday "would always be the outsider, simultaneously praised and disparaged by university-trained practitioners -- son of a blacksmith, and now himself a kind of 'scientist-smith' in their eyes..." (Hershfeld). Faraday complained of a "Spirit of Party and bigotry" found among the scientists of his time. They were too entrenched into a particular set of views and were closed-minded to a degree. (Ibid.)

Circa 1820, Hans Christian Oersted had discovered what seemed to be a "halo of force" created by electric current. This turned out to be a magnetic field caused not by a magnet but by an electrical imposter. There was a theory, that all forces are variations of a single, fundamental force. This is also known as the "grand unified theory" or "unified field theory".

If an electric current could mimic a magnetic field, might not a magnet somehow affect an electric current? Andre-Marie Ampere went so far as to claim that all magnetism was just electricity. "Even the earth's magnetic field [gravity] must arise from some vast tide of electricity within it." (Ibid.)

Faraday was fascinated by magnetic "lines of force." There could be "convertibility of energy" between magnetism, gravity, light, and electricity, he believed. "Toward the end of his career, Faraday would try in vain to convert gravity into electricity." (Ibid.)

Faraday challenged the reigning model of the atom. No one had ever seen an atom, so how can we be sure it is a "tiny particle"? Instead of a "particle atom" there must be instead "lines of force", with the atom being "a point devoid of physical substance, yet unequivocally defined by the convergence of lines of force." Faraday's atom "played the Cheshire cat -- the lines of force remain, while the material body vanishes." Space, in Faraday's conception, was filled with "force lines." Interaction between the "force lines" accounted for electricity, magnetism, and gravity. This vision of nature is now called "field theory." (Ibid.)

It was James Clerk Maxwell who translated Faraday's ideas into mathematical language. Maxwell began his paper, "On Faraday's Lines of Force," with a complaint about the scientific establishment of that time: "The present state of electrical science seems peculiarly unfavorable to speculation." Later, "Maxwell's field concept would be expanded and formalized by others, including [Albert] Einstein, who derived the analogous field equations for gravity." (Ibid.)

Hirshfeld reiterates, in the epilogue to The Electric Life of Michael Faraday, how the "scientific establishment" of Faraday's time viewed his ideas "with bemusement, if not outright scorn." But decades later, Albert Einstein praised Faraday's and Maxwell's conceptions as on a level with those of Isaac Newton.

The Heavy Hand Of Heaviside

Someone named Oliver Heaviside is responsible, according to authors Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara, for “streamlining” Maxwell's equations into a dumbed-down version. Reportedly, Heaviside “eliminated over twenty quaternions from Maxwell's original theory in his attempted 'simplification.'” (“Dark Mission” by Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara. Feral House, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-932595-26-0. Chapter 2)

Consequently, what has been taught as the “Maxwell Equations” are misleading, and “never appeared in any original Maxwell paper or treatise,” according to Hoagland and Bara (op. cit.)

This is corroborated by Col. Tom Bearden. “In the 1880s, several scientists --- Heaviside, Gibbs, Hertz etc. --- strongly assaulted the Maxwellian theory and dramatically reduced it, creating vector algebra in the process... Today, there is still a widespread belief that the third edition represents Maxwell's original EM work and theory, in pristine form just as created originally by Maxwell. It doesn't.” (“Maxwell's Quaternion Equations,” by Col. Tom Bearden. http://www.rexresearch.com/maxwell.htm)

Banishment Of The Aether

Michael Faraday was not too keen on the idea of the aether, as such. The problem is, we are not sure what we mean when we discuss the aether (a.k.a. ether). If light travels in waves, then what is the medium for those waves? An aether was theorized. The Michelson-Morley experiments of 1887 proved there was “no material aether,” write Hoagland & Bara. But because of the Heavy Hand of Heaviside and the consequent dumbing-down of Maxwell's equations, what has been missed is that Maxwell assumed a “hyper-spatial aether” and not a material aether. This means that “physics lost its promising theoretical beginnings as a truly 'hyperdimensional' science over a century ago.” (Hoagland & Bara, op. cit.)

Today, many believe that Albert Einstein banished the aether (ether). But Isaac Asimov, a respected author on scientific matters, qualified that as follows: “The theory of relativity does not flatly state that an ether does not exist. It does, however, remove the need for one, and if it is not needed, why bother with it?” (“Ether Abandoned!” http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Ether.html) Einstein's dismissal of the aether as “no longer necessary” was later regretted by the renowned theoretician. "Most physics students learn from their textbooks that in 1905 Einstein banished the ether from physics as part of the revolution initiated by his special theory of relativity. What they generally do not learn is that in 1916 he reintroduced the concept..." Einstein's New Ether "differed fundamentally from the ether he had banished." (“Insipid Realities”, http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Insipid.html) And the aether itself, observing the controversy, states, “I don't mind. I'm not going anywhere. It is the scientists themselves who are relative.”

Conspiracy Nation

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