Some concepts in physics advance in bursts of inspiration; others advance by slow evolution of thought. Concepts of aether, relativity and cosmology seem to advance by some of each. To measure current beliefs, the Natural Philosophy Alliance (NPA) is conducting a survey of scientist's opinions in a few areas where recent experiments shed new light on old theories. Three examples are:
- light photons are now seen to have finite rest mass which contradicts prior assumptions of zero photon rest mass and relativity's presumed infinite mass at light speed
- important aspects of special relativity are found to be based on assumptions conflicting with their derivation assumptions
- Big Bang assumptions require initial expansion at thousands of times light speed which contradicts Einstein's original special relativity concepts.
Have such observations altered scientist's opinions about modern physics? The design and early survey responses by NPA members are summarized herein. Over 80% of those answering the questions agreed that:
- the above flaws raise serious questions about relativity and its space-time concepts
- neither special nor general relativity have ever been experimentally confirmed beyond reasonable doubt
- 'Big Bang' concepts can also be seriously questioned.
The next steps will be to extend this survey to the larger scientific community and see if their opinions are similar to those by a majority of NPA members. If they agree that there are valid questions, then perhaps it's time to seek general consensus for bypassing relativity and seeking new solutions to the unsolved problems in modern physics as now suggested by NASA.
