Pentcho Valev
Pentcho Valev | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Nationality | Bulgarian |
| Known for | Criticism of Einstein's special theory of relativity; advocacy of a variable speed of light |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry; foundations of physics |
Pentcho Valev is a Bulgarian chemist known outside the scientific mainstream as a prolific online critic of Albert Einstein's special relativity and as an advocate of the idea that the speed of light is variable rather than constant. He has written extensively on the foundations of physics in dissident-science venues and internet forums over the course of several decades.
Biography
Valev is based in Sofia, Bulgaria. By profession he is a chemist; according to biographical accounts he has worked at the State Commission of Varieties in Sofia, where he became head of the Technological Laboratory in 1994, engaged in the testing and quality control of seeds. He is not affiliated with the mainstream Bulgarian research or university communities, and relatively little verified biographical information about him is publicly available. Because of the scarcity of personal details, some observers have speculated that "Pentcho Valev" might be a pen name, though this has not been established.
Work
Valev's writings challenge the standard framework of modern theoretical physics, and in particular the two postulates of Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity. His central and most persistently argued claim is that the speed of light is not an invariant constant but is variable, depending for example on the motion of the observer or on gravity. From this premise he argues that special relativity rests on a false foundation. These positions place him firmly outside the scientific mainstream, where the constancy of the speed of light in vacuum for all inertial observers is a well-established and repeatedly tested principle.
In addition to relativity, Valev has published critiques of classical thermodynamics, questioning the universal validity of the second law of thermodynamics and discussing what he terms biased thermal motion.
Much of his output has appeared in the General Science Journal (gsjournal.net) and in extended discussions on internet forums and Usenet groups such as sci.physics.relativity, as well as on social media. His papers hosted on the General Science Journal, dated between 2004 and 2008, include:
- Science Infected with Inconsistency (2004)
- Biased Thermal Motion and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (2004)
- Relativity: The Madness of 20th Century Physics (2005)
- 19th Century Thermodynamics: The Beginning of the End of Theoretical Physics (2005)
- Why Einstein Failed to Refute the Theory of Relativity (2005)
- Albert Einstein: The Lucky Juggler (2005)
- Incommensurability of Newton and Einstein (2005)
- Deductive Arguments in Natural Sciences (2008)
His views have not been accepted by the physics community, and his arguments are generally regarded by mainstream physicists as unsupported. Presented here neutrally, his work is representative of a broader dissident-science literature that questions the accepted interpretation of relativity.