Robert L Oldershaw - Revision history

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	\| birth_date = {{birth date\|1946\|11\|3\|mf=y}}		\| birth_date = {{birth date\|1946\|11\|3\|mf=y}}
	\| birth_place = Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States		\| birth_place = Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States
	\| death_date = {{death date\|2021\|8\|9\|~~mf=y~~}}		\| death_date = {{death date and age\|2021\|8\|9\|1946\|11\|3}}
	\| death_place = Amherst, Massachusetts, United States		\| death_place = Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
	\| residence = Amherst, MA, United States		\| residence = Amherst, MA, United States

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	\| name = Robert L. Oldershaw		\| name = Robert L. Oldershaw
	\| alt = Robert L. Oldershaw		\| alt = Robert L. Oldershaw
	\| birth_date = {{birth date\|1946\|00\|00\|mf=y}}		\| birth_date = {{birth date\|1946\|11\|3\|mf=y}}
			\| birth_place = Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States
			\| death_date = {{death date\|2021\|8\|9\|mf=y}}
			\| death_place = Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
	\| residence = Amherst, MA, United States		\| residence = Amherst, MA, United States
	\| nationality = USA		\| nationality = USA
	\| known_for = [[cosmology]], [[Fractal Universe]]		\| fields = [[Cosmology]]
			\| workplaces = [[Amherst College]]; University of Massachusetts Amherst
			\| alma_mater = Colby College; University of Washington
			\| known_for = [[cosmology]], [[Fractal Universe]], Discrete Scale Relativity
	}}		}}

	~~I am~~ an independent ~~reseacher~~ in the ~~field~~ of ~~cosmology~~. ~~I am~~ loosely affiliated with Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts and ~~do my~~ research there and at the University of Massachusetts.		'''Robert L. Oldershaw''' (November 3, 1946 – August 9, 2021) was an American independent researcher in [[cosmology]], best known for developing the ''Self-Similar Cosmological Paradigm'' and its later formulation as ''Discrete Scale Relativity'', a [[Fractal Universe\|fractal]] model of the cosmos based on discrete self-similarity. He was loosely affiliated with [[Amherst College]] in Amherst, Massachusetts, and carried out his research there and at the University of Massachusetts. His ideas lie outside the mainstream of contemporary cosmology, though several of his papers appeared in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

	I am primarily interested in fractal cosmological models that involve discrete self-similarity. For approximately 30 years I have worked on a particular model referred to as the Self-Similar Cosmological Paradigm.		==Biography==

	A 2-part review of ~~this~~ paradigm ~~has been~~ published in the ''International Journal of Theoretical Physics'', Vol. 28, No. 6, ~~pgs~~. ~~669-694~~ and No. 12, ~~pgs~~. ~~1503~~-~~1532~~, ~~1989~~. These ~~papers are available~~ at~~ my website~~.		Oldershaw was born on November 3, 1946, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and attended the Holyoke public schools and Suffield Academy. He studied at Colby College and, following a brief period in the United States Air Force, continued his education at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he earned degrees in chemistry and oceanography.

			From 1988 onward he was loosely affiliated with Amherst College as an independent researcher, pursuing his cosmological work there and at the nearby University of Massachusetts rather than through a conventional academic appointment. He devoted much of his life to the study of a self-similar, fractal universe, a niche area of astrophysics and cosmology. Oldershaw died on August 9, 2021, in Amherst, Massachusetts.

			==Scientific contributions==

			Oldershaw began developing a discrete self-similar cosmological model in 1976, motivated by observational studies of nature and by his interpretation of [[general relativity]]. He referred to this framework as the Self-Similar Cosmological Paradigm (SSCP) and, in later work, as Discrete Scale Relativity.

			The paradigm proposes that nature is organized into an unbounded hierarchy of discrete "Scales," of which the Atomic, Stellar and Galactic Scales are held to be observable. According to the model, the physics on each Scale is rigorously similar to that on every other Scale, so that systems on different Scales are related by discrete scale transformation equations. Oldershaw treated this "discrete cosmological self-similarity" as a fundamental symmetry principle and argued that it generalizes relativity by applying identical physical laws across all cosmological Scales.

			A two-part review of the paradigm was published in the ''International Journal of Theoretical Physics'' (Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 669–694, and No. 12, pp. 1503–1532, 1989). His paper "Discrete Scale Relativity" appeared in the peer-reviewed journal ''Astrophysics and Space Science'' in 2007. Oldershaw maintained that his model made testable predictions and reported that its scale transformation equations correlated physical parameters of atomic, stellar and galactic systems.

			These proposals lie well outside mainstream cosmology, which is founded on the standard [[Big Bang]] model, and have not been widely adopted by the scientific community. Oldershaw presented his work as an alternative research program and continued to publish and promote it throughout his career, including through his "Fractal Cosmology" website hosted at Amherst College.

	==Abstracts==		==Abstracts==
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	* 1994 - "[[Keeping Theoretical Physics on Track]]" ([http://www.naturalphilosophy.org/pdf/abstracts/abstracts_579.pdf Read in full])		* 1994 - "[[Keeping Theoretical Physics on Track]]" ([http://www.naturalphilosophy.org/pdf/abstracts/abstracts_579.pdf Read in full])
	* 0 - "[[Discrete Scale Relativity and SX Phoenicis Variable Stars]]" ([http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0906/0906.3525.pdf Read in full])		* 0 - "[[Discrete Scale Relativity and SX Phoenicis Variable Stars]]" ([http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0906/0906.3525.pdf Read in full])

			==External links==

			* [https://rloldershaw.people.amherst.edu/ Fractal Cosmology] – Oldershaw's research website at Amherst College
			* [https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701132 "Discrete Scale Relativity"] on arXiv

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{{Infobox scientist
| name = Robert L. Oldershaw
| alt = Robert L. Oldershaw
| birth_date = {{birth date|1946|00|00|mf=y}}
| residence = Amherst, MA, United States
| nationality = USA
| known_for = [[cosmology]], [[Fractal Universe]]
}}

I am an independent reseacher in the field of cosmology. I am loosely affiliated with Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts and do my research there and at the University of Massachusetts.

I am primarily interested in fractal cosmological models that involve discrete self-similarity. For approximately 30 years I have worked on a particular model referred to as the Self-Similar Cosmological Paradigm.

A 2-part review of this paradigm has been published in the ''International Journal of Theoretical Physics'', Vol. 28, No. 6, pgs. 669-694 and No. 12, pgs. 1503-1532, 1989. These papers are available at my website.

==Abstracts==

* 1998 - "[[Democritus ? Scientific Wizard of the 5th Century BC]]" ([http://www.springerlink.com/content/m4l488n673170845/fulltext.pdf Read in full])
* 1994 - "[[Keeping Theoretical Physics on Track]]" ([http://www.naturalphilosophy.org/pdf/abstracts/abstracts_579.pdf Read in full])
* 0 - "[[Discrete Scale Relativity and SX Phoenicis Variable Stars]]" ([http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0906/0906.3525.pdf Read in full])

[[Category:Scientist]]
[[Category:Unified Theory]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]