Donald Cameron
Donald Cameron | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Claim that the inferred dark-matter to visible-matter ratio results from a calculation error |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Gravitation, Cosmology |
Donald Cameron is a researcher who has proposed that the large amount of dark matter usually inferred from galactic rotation curves is substantially overestimated because of errors in the classical calculation of gravitational forces. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
In "Is the current estimation of the ratio of dark matter to visible matter the result of a simple miscalculation?" (Physics Essays 25, 306–314, 2012), Cameron argues that conventional estimates of the gravitational force between astronomical bodies are too low, and that correcting this underestimation reduces or removes the need to invoke large amounts of unseen dark matter. He connects the argument to the correspondence principle, noting that general relativity was constructed to reproduce classical gravity in the weak-field, low-velocity limit, and claims that his reformulated treatment yields theoretical orbital speeds consistent with observations. The paper lists an address in the Bronx, New York.
His conclusion is outside the scientific mainstream, in which the discrepancy between visible mass and dynamical mass is taken as evidence for dark matter (or, in alternative accounts, modified gravity).