RE: speed of light

[Jack_Earley@RL.GOV]

As I recall (working from a vague memory), it was first reported by a French

scientist in Nature magazine in 1927. Apparently there have been some 84

measurements using 16 different methods over the past 300 years, all of

which show a decrease in speed. My wife discussed this with her ex- (a Ph.D.

astrophysicist at CU) at one point after she and I had talked about it, and

asked him the reverse case: if this and this are true, what would be the

significance? He replied that it would indicate that the speed of light was

decreasing, and went on to say that he was familiar with the research, but

if it were true, it would invalidate all of his work and end his funding.

Needless to say, with a six-figure income at stake, true science not only

would take a back seat, it's not even going to be allowed onto the bus.



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer





-----Original Message-----

From: Strickert, Rick [mailto:rstrickert@signaturescience.com]

Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 8:12 AM

To: radsafe

Subject: RE: speed of light





The note about a possible change in the speed of light may have come

from reports in the NYTimes

(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/15/science/15PHYS.html) or USA Today

(http://www.usatoday.com/news/healthscience/science/astro/2001-08-15-spe

ed-of-light.htm), related to the reported change in the fine structure

constant.



According to a claim in a recent article, "Further Evidence for

Cosmological Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant" (J. K. Webb, M.

T. Murphy, V. V. Flambaum, V. A. Dzuba, J. D. Barrow, C. W. Churchill,

J. X. Prochaska, and A. M. Wolfe, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 091301, print

issue of 27 August 2001), the (dimensionless) fine-structure constant is

about 0.001 per cent larger now than it was a billion years ago.  



Another web site provides much information and background on the data

reported by the astronomers -

http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/cwc/fsc.html



Some scientists see problems with the claim

(http://focus.aps.org/v8/st9.html). However, if confirmed, the change in

the fine structure constant over time would be a major discovery.  



How this would affect a dimensioned constant like the speed of light (in

vacuum) remains to be seen.  No changes in that constant have yet been

observed. 



Rick



Richard G. Strickert, Ph.D.

Principal Scientist

Signature Science LLC 

8329 North Mopac Blvd.

Austin, TX 78759

(512) 533-2009 (Phone)

(512) 533-9563 (Fax)

rstrickert@signaturescience.com

http://www.signaturescience.com





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