Daniel H Deutsch: Difference between revisions
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| alt = Daniel H. Deutsch | | alt = Daniel H. Deutsch | ||
| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|08|29|mf=y}} | | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|08|29|mf=y}} | ||
| death_date = {{ | | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|11|16|1922|8|29}} | ||
| residence = Pasadena, | | residence = Pasadena, California, United States | ||
| nationality = | | nationality = American | ||
| known_for = | | fields = Foundations of quantum physics, particle structure | ||
| known_for = Planck's constant as a quantum of angular momentum; electromechanical models of elementary particles; local quantum reality | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Daniel H. Deutsch''' (29 August 1922 – 16 November 1997) was an American physicist based in Pasadena, California, who over the last decade of his life developed an alternative account of quantum physics built on two claims: that Planck's constant is a quantum of ''angular momentum'' rather than of action, and that elementary particles are physical structures made of rotating massless charges rather than featureless points. | |||
His work was published in ''[[Physics Essays]]'' and ''[[Galilean Electrodynamics]]'', and presented at meetings of the [[Natural Philosophy Alliance]]. It is unusual among the material collected here in being a fully constructive programme: rather than arguing chiefly that the standard account is wrong, Deutsch set out to build concrete mechanical models of the photon, electron, proton, neutron and neutrino, and to derive their properties from geometry and motion. | |||
== Biography == | |||
[[Category:Scientist]] | Deutsch lived and worked in Pasadena, California. He remained active to the end of his life, reading papers at the [[Natural Philosophy Alliance]] meeting in San Luis Obispo in July 1997 and at a meeting in Cologne in late August of the same year, only months before his death on 16 November 1997 at the age of 75. | ||
[[Category:New Energy]] | |||
[[John Chappell]], writing in the Alliance's newsletter shortly afterwards, recorded: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
Dr. Daniel H. Deutsch of Pasadena, Calif. died in mid-November, just prior to the completion of this newsletter, aged 75. He read carefully-reasoned papers at the San Luis Obispo meeting last July, and then also at the Cologne meeting in late August. He also published in major dissident journals. Cheerful and generous, Dan will be sorely missed. | |||
</blockquote> | |||
[[Evert Jan Post]] published a longer appreciation, "In Memoriam: Daniel Deutsch", in ''[[Galilean Electrodynamics]]'' in 1999. | |||
== Scientific work == | |||
=== Planck's constant as angular momentum === | |||
The foundation of Deutsch's programme is a reinterpretation of a single constant. In "[[Reinterpreting Planck's constant]]" (1990) he argues that ''h'' — or better ''ħ'' — should be understood as a quantum of '''angular momentum''' rather than as a quantum of action. Two consequences follow directly. Action is then identified with angular momentum, and the principle of least action is construed as the conservation of angular momentum. The photon, carrying one quantum ''ħ'' of angular momentum, becomes the mediator of low-energy quantum physics. | |||
Everything else in his work is built on this move. It is a small change of interpretation with large structural consequences, since it converts an abstract bookkeeping quantity into a mechanical property that a physical object can actually possess — which is precisely what allows the models that follow. | |||
=== Electromechanical models of the particles === | |||
In "[[Electromechanical Physical Model of the Photon]]" (1988) Deutsch proposes a '''rotating dipole''' model of the photon, composed of two massless point charges of equal and opposite sign (of magnitude some 16.55''e''), rotating at the velocity of light. | |||
"[[Electromechanical Physical Models of the Electron, Proton, Neutron, and Neutrino]]" (1991) extends the scheme to matter. Taking ''h'' as a quantum of angular momentum, he develops an alternative quantum physics in which the electron, proton, neutron and neutrino are each built from dipoles of two massless point charges — each charge devoid of intrinsic energy, of equal and opposite sign, and directly related to the '''fine-structure constant α'''. These dipoles rotate and simultaneously translate or oscillate in two orthogonal directions, all at the velocity of light. The electron and proton carry in addition a third massless point charge equal to the net charge. | |||
Two features of the scheme are worth drawing out. First, mass and internal energy are not primitive: the constituents are massless and carry no intrinsic energy, so whatever energy the particle has arises from the motion of its parts. Second, because each particle possesses angular momentum, it can exist in '''two non-superimposable forms''' — a left-handed and a right-handed version that cannot be converted into one another. Chirality thus emerges from the geometry of the model rather than being imposed on it. | |||
=== A three-dimensional Lorentz–FitzGerald contraction === | |||
"[[Should not the Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction Be Three-Dimensional?]]" (1993) is his most directly testable departure from orthodoxy. Starting from the empirical increase of mass with speed and from the Hartree unit of length — the idealised Bohr radius of the hydrogen atom — Deutsch shows that on his model the contraction of the hydrogen atom's radius with velocity is ''independent of the direction'' of that velocity. | |||
The conclusion is that the FitzGerald–Lorentz contraction should occur equally in all three orthogonal directions, not only along the line of motion. This contradicts the standard relativistic account, in which contraction is purely longitudinal, and it does so in a way that is in principle open to experimental decision. | |||
=== Local quantum reality === | |||
His final work, presented in the year of his death, was "[[Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part I]]" and "[[Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part II]]" (1997) — the papers read at San Luis Obispo and Cologne. These belong to the '''local realist''' tradition, which holds that quantum systems possess definite properties independently of measurement and that influences do not propagate faster than light, against the non-local reading that has become standard. No abstract or full text of either part is held on this wiki; they survive here as bibliographic records only. | |||
== Papers on this wiki == | |||
* 1988 — "[[Electromechanical Physical Model of the Photon]]", ''[[Physics Essays]]'' | |||
* 1990 — "[[Reinterpreting Planck's constant]]", ''[[Galilean Electrodynamics]]'' | |||
* 1991 — "[[Electromechanical Physical Models of the Electron, Proton, Neutron, and Neutrino]]", ''[[Physics Essays]]'' | |||
* 1993 — "[[Should not the Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction Be Three-Dimensional?]]", ''[[Galilean Electrodynamics]]'' | |||
* 1997 — "[[Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part I]]" | |||
* 1997 — "[[Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part II]]" | |||
== About Deutsch == | |||
* 1999 — [[Evert Jan Post]], "[[In Memoriam: Daniel Deutsch]]", ''[[Galilean Electrodynamics]]'' | |||
== See also == | |||
* [[Quantum Theory]] | |||
* [[Special Relativity]] | |||
* [[Natural Philosophy Alliance]] | |||
[[Category:Scientist|Deutsch Daniel]] | |||
[[Category:Quantum Theory|Deutsch Daniel]] | |||
[[Category:New Energy|Deutsch Daniel]] | |||
[[Category:Relativity|Deutsch Daniel]] | |||
[[Category:Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists|Deutsch Daniel]] | |||
Latest revision as of 22:15, 20 July 2026
Daniel H. Deutsch | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 29, 1922 |
| Died | November 16, 1997 (aged 75) |
| Residence | Pasadena, California, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Planck's constant as a quantum of angular momentum; electromechanical models of elementary particles; local quantum reality |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Foundations of quantum physics, particle structure |
Daniel H. Deutsch (29 August 1922 – 16 November 1997) was an American physicist based in Pasadena, California, who over the last decade of his life developed an alternative account of quantum physics built on two claims: that Planck's constant is a quantum of angular momentum rather than of action, and that elementary particles are physical structures made of rotating massless charges rather than featureless points.
His work was published in Physics Essays and Galilean Electrodynamics, and presented at meetings of the Natural Philosophy Alliance. It is unusual among the material collected here in being a fully constructive programme: rather than arguing chiefly that the standard account is wrong, Deutsch set out to build concrete mechanical models of the photon, electron, proton, neutron and neutrino, and to derive their properties from geometry and motion.
Biography
Deutsch lived and worked in Pasadena, California. He remained active to the end of his life, reading papers at the Natural Philosophy Alliance meeting in San Luis Obispo in July 1997 and at a meeting in Cologne in late August of the same year, only months before his death on 16 November 1997 at the age of 75.
John Chappell, writing in the Alliance's newsletter shortly afterwards, recorded:
Dr. Daniel H. Deutsch of Pasadena, Calif. died in mid-November, just prior to the completion of this newsletter, aged 75. He read carefully-reasoned papers at the San Luis Obispo meeting last July, and then also at the Cologne meeting in late August. He also published in major dissident journals. Cheerful and generous, Dan will be sorely missed.
Evert Jan Post published a longer appreciation, "In Memoriam: Daniel Deutsch", in Galilean Electrodynamics in 1999.
Scientific work
Planck's constant as angular momentum
The foundation of Deutsch's programme is a reinterpretation of a single constant. In "Reinterpreting Planck's constant" (1990) he argues that h — or better ħ — should be understood as a quantum of angular momentum rather than as a quantum of action. Two consequences follow directly. Action is then identified with angular momentum, and the principle of least action is construed as the conservation of angular momentum. The photon, carrying one quantum ħ of angular momentum, becomes the mediator of low-energy quantum physics.
Everything else in his work is built on this move. It is a small change of interpretation with large structural consequences, since it converts an abstract bookkeeping quantity into a mechanical property that a physical object can actually possess — which is precisely what allows the models that follow.
Electromechanical models of the particles
In "Electromechanical Physical Model of the Photon" (1988) Deutsch proposes a rotating dipole model of the photon, composed of two massless point charges of equal and opposite sign (of magnitude some 16.55e), rotating at the velocity of light.
"Electromechanical Physical Models of the Electron, Proton, Neutron, and Neutrino" (1991) extends the scheme to matter. Taking h as a quantum of angular momentum, he develops an alternative quantum physics in which the electron, proton, neutron and neutrino are each built from dipoles of two massless point charges — each charge devoid of intrinsic energy, of equal and opposite sign, and directly related to the fine-structure constant α. These dipoles rotate and simultaneously translate or oscillate in two orthogonal directions, all at the velocity of light. The electron and proton carry in addition a third massless point charge equal to the net charge.
Two features of the scheme are worth drawing out. First, mass and internal energy are not primitive: the constituents are massless and carry no intrinsic energy, so whatever energy the particle has arises from the motion of its parts. Second, because each particle possesses angular momentum, it can exist in two non-superimposable forms — a left-handed and a right-handed version that cannot be converted into one another. Chirality thus emerges from the geometry of the model rather than being imposed on it.
A three-dimensional Lorentz–FitzGerald contraction
"Should not the Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction Be Three-Dimensional?" (1993) is his most directly testable departure from orthodoxy. Starting from the empirical increase of mass with speed and from the Hartree unit of length — the idealised Bohr radius of the hydrogen atom — Deutsch shows that on his model the contraction of the hydrogen atom's radius with velocity is independent of the direction of that velocity.
The conclusion is that the FitzGerald–Lorentz contraction should occur equally in all three orthogonal directions, not only along the line of motion. This contradicts the standard relativistic account, in which contraction is purely longitudinal, and it does so in a way that is in principle open to experimental decision.
Local quantum reality
His final work, presented in the year of his death, was "Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part I" and "Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part II" (1997) — the papers read at San Luis Obispo and Cologne. These belong to the local realist tradition, which holds that quantum systems possess definite properties independently of measurement and that influences do not propagate faster than light, against the non-local reading that has become standard. No abstract or full text of either part is held on this wiki; they survive here as bibliographic records only.
Papers on this wiki
- 1988 — "Electromechanical Physical Model of the Photon", Physics Essays
- 1990 — "Reinterpreting Planck's constant", Galilean Electrodynamics
- 1991 — "Electromechanical Physical Models of the Electron, Proton, Neutron, and Neutrino", Physics Essays
- 1993 — "Should not the Lorentz-FitzGerald Contraction Be Three-Dimensional?", Galilean Electrodynamics
- 1997 — "Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part I"
- 1997 — "Local Quantum Reality Theory, Part II"