1905 to 1935 was a Golden Age of Physics with famous physicists, full of original ideas and with rigorous arguments, establishing many of the experimentally proven fundamentals of physics. Unpaid⁽⁷⁾, these physicists searched for a more unified theory of physics, working in their spare time, like Albert Einstein did in his years at the patent office. However, over the following decades, physicists have become professionals, specializing in ever narrower fields, where each field is increasingly incomprehensible to its neighbour. Technology and its applications have replaced what was traditionally the domain of original ideas and rigorous arguments; an ongoing good job and being paid has become more important.

Today, particle physicists and mathematicians are tied to the expensive research of unstable new particles, with minuscule lifetimes (10^-22sec)  making experimental measurements very difficult, and with sightings based on data plucked from signals mixed with excessive noise. Cosmologists are tied to research usually linked with the Big Bang Theory, assessing what happened in the first trillionth, trillionth, trillionth of a second (10^-36sec) of an expanding universe, assumed to have started 13.8 billion years ago. As a result observations of new particles and cosmological events are largely without reliable experimental proof. Yet these results are critical to prolonging the research and jobs of the associated scientists. Such observations and associated theories of physics are acclaimed as today’s fundamentals of physics by the established proponents of this research; while at the same time they strongly protect their results from any challenge. Alternative new ideas are definitely not welcome, yet a more unified theory of physics has not appeared. Such research is stuck in a cul-de-sac uncertain of where to go next; in a world of untestable hypotheses of particle physics and cosmological events.

Sabine Hossenfelder’s book “Lost in Math”⁽⁸⁾ develops a similar topic and includes the summary “… We (physicists) have failed to protect our ability to make unbiased judgements. We let ourselves be pushed into a corner, and now we are routinely forced to lie if we want to continue our (scientific) work …”

Physics took a wrong turn leaving the golden age of physics and the Nuts & Bolts of Physics perspective of stable matter (photons, electrons, nuclei and larger objects) looks to be the promising alternative path. Based on the university physics courses of the late 1960s, with theories supported by repeatable experiment, the approach offers an objective view of physics with a strong practical flavour, akin to Newton’s Laws of Motion.

Over the past 20 years, the Nuts & Bolts of Physics has proved invaluable to earning my living working with high-tech industrial projects, while at the same time following the ongoing debates in scientific journals about Quantum Mechanics, Einstein’s Relativity Theory and the Standard Model among many others. Using this single perspective, I enjoyed the dual benefit of delivering high-tech fully tested commercial products while developing new perspectives of theoretical physics⁽⁹⁾ leading to a more unified theory of physics⁽¹⁰⁾.

To escape from the current research cul-de-sac, we have to return to the physics of stable matter and energy and their interactions. Based on the Golden Age of Physics, a new unifying perspective of physics must account for the existence and relative motion of all matter in the universe, as well as the conservation of all forms of energy and momentum.

References:

(7) Physics: No longer a vocation? Anita Mehta, vol61 no. 6 Physics Today, June 2008

(8) Lost in Math, Sabine Hossenfelder, Basic Books, 2018 ISBN 978-0-465-09425-7, page 232

(9) Alan Clark, 2017, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29674.41922 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320331692_Developing_new_perspectives_of_physics

(10) Physics in 5 Dimensions, Alan Clark, 2017, 496 pages, Winterwork, Borsdorf, ISBN: 978-3-96014-233-1

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The Book by Alan Clark- Physics in 5 Dimensions - is also available as a PDF file to members of ResearchGate here.