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Potential problems areas in modern physics are reviewed from a vantage point of extensive experience with the relevant literature. Areas which are well-substantiated by experimental data are discussed first and suggested to be unlikely fields for further research. About an equal number of fields are then discussed which are not well substantiated or even contradicted by research data. These latter fields are deemed to be the most likely ones for future research and technical papers questioning current scientific beliefs.

Recently, I repeated the famous Trouton-Noble experiment with more-than-adequate sensitivity to detect the torque due to the rotational velocity at the surface of the earth, even with account taken of the dielectric constant of the capacitor, should such a torque exist. The result was null. The present paper shows why there never was any cogent reason to expect a torque, even in classical theory.

The global positioning satellite (GPS) system is a marvelous invention for enabling an observer anywhere on earth to measure his location with great precision. Timing by extremely precise atomic clocks on the satellites, and exact knowledge of the orbits are the keys to the precision. The presence of at least four satellites well above the horizon at any given time and location enables the ground-based observers to use clocks of considerably lower precision than those on the satellites. A pseudo-random code used in the communication system allows the observer to use portable equipment, even though the signals are extremely weak.

One of the highly touted successes of modern physics is Einstein's special telativity theory (SRT), of which the Lorentz transformations are an essential ingredient. Another is Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), in which Maxwell's Equations are obviously important. It happens that Maxwell's equations automatically are consistent with the Lorentz transformation equations, yet there is, as yet, no successful theory incorporating the features of both SRT and QED. The present paper is not an attempt to bridge the gap, but rather to point out the inherent inconsistency between the two theories.

Stellar aberration, discovered three centuries ago, was immediately recognized as a phenomenon due to the velocity of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. Einstein explained aberration by using the Lorentz transformations to convert from stellar coordinates to earth coordinates unequivocally using the relative velocity of Earth and star, and his explanation remains essentially the same in most textbooks. We show herein, by analyzing data from binary stars, that aberration is not due to relative velocity of Earth with respect to star, but rather Earth's orbital velocity.

Champeney's 1963 Mossbauer experiment was performed as a first-order test of "ether" velocity, in spite of an earlier paper that proved that there was exact cancellation between two first-order effects, one due to "ether" velocity, and the other due to Lorentz "time" dilation. But experiments show that clock rates are determined by their velocity with respect to non-rating geocentric coordinates. The first-order term "time dilation" term thus reappears, which must be balanced by another, if agreement with the experiment is to be achieved.

It is quite uncontroversial that there exists a vast array of experiments which support Einstein theory; references can be found in any textbook and numerous review articles. However, an important question that is rarely addressed, and then inadequately, is whether the cited experiment uniquely supports Einstein theory. For example, the equation E = mc² for which Einstein is known even to the man in the street, can be derived -- as was done by Einstein himself -- from purely classical physics, without any reference to four-dimensional "spacetime" coordinates or to a purely classical physics, without any reference to four-dimensional "spacetime" coordinates or to a constant light velocity.  It follows that an experiment -- or a million experiments -- which confirm E = mc² thus support classical physics just as well as Einstein theory.  This paper addresses the question of what experiments are required to support uniquely Einsteinian relativity theory.

A previous paper analyzed the Edwards effect and found that it was predictable from Beckmann's theory. In another "variant" of the experiment, no such effect was detected. It is shown that the experiment failed to satisfy some crucial conditions, and that the conclusions drawn from it are inavlid unless they are made model-dependent.

A recent paper by Dieks and Nienhuis implies that Sagnac's famous experiment in 1913 cannot be explained by classical physics and needs the Special Theory of Relativity to come to the rescue. It is shown that the conclusions in that paper are both physically and historically erroneous, and that the experiment proves, as do contemporary measurements using satellites, that the speed of light is not constant in the sense used by Einstein in his 1905 paper. The latter measurements also refute the GRT explanation of Sagnac's experiment, since a time difference remains when no area is enclosed.

If anything in modern physics can be said to have attracted the most attention, it is surely the topic of time dilation, along with the associated "twin paradox." Many experiments with varying degrees of precision demonstrate conclusively the phenomenon that moving clocks run slowly. These experiments are here elucidated in enough detail to remove any doubt about the existence of the phenomenon. That said, the question arises whether this means that time is "dilated," or whether "clocks" run slowly simply because they move through the gravitational (or other) field. There is, in fact, a rational basis upon which to decide the question.

Summary: Beckmann makes the case that light speed is constant with respect to the gravitational field. His model, however, does not specify how the speed varies with such things as the mass of the locally dominant body and its distance from the point of interest. In the present paper, we derive the result from the conservation of energy, and use it to predict the reflection of starlight. The results agree with those of General Relativity Theory, and more importantly with measurement.

An experiment performed by Edwards et. al. demonstrates the existence of a negative potential on the surface of a superconducting wire which was proportional to the square of the slowly diminishing current in the wire. Conventional electromagnetic theory predicts that this potential should not exist. It is proposed here that the potential results from a force on a charge at rest caused by a magnetic field in motion.

It is difficult to find critical work about Einstein's Theory of Relativity in most standard physics journals. Galilean Electrodynamics, founded by the late Petr Beckman in 1989, is a notable exception. Since Einstein's 1905 paper, Relativity has had many critics and although it is widely accepted today, there is still a minority who question the central tenets of Relativity Theory. Galilean Electrodynamics is devoted to publishing high quality scientific papers, refereed by professional scientists, that are critical of Special Relativity, General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Big Bang theory and other establishment doctrines.

The following letter by Prof. Howard C. Hayden was sent to a number of physicists and scientists, both orthodox and dissident. It was received by this editor via Usenet on 28 August 1989, at a time when it was still quite unknown what the outcome of the experiment would be.