A 1986 Harris poll found that about 70 percent of the responding adult Americans described themselves as interested in science and technology, and they said their understanding of the subject was very good or adequate. [153] The word scientist entered the English language in 1840, and few individuals earned a living doing research, with most of the investigations carried out by gentlemen of wealth and leisure. At that time, a handful of American scientist were taking steps to transform their status and image and separate themselves as professionals from those they considered amateurs. [154] The major tactic used to create this artificial separation has been the elaborate use of technical jargon and complex mathematics. This erection of higher and higher barriers to the comprehension of scientific affairs is a threat to an essential characteristic of science, its openness to outside examination and appraisal. [155]
Because of this, modern theoretical physics has become to a large degree, little more than an elaborate farce. I will attempt to explore and document this argument, and this book is meant for anyone who is interested in this subject. I have tried to reduce the technical jargon and mathematics to a minimum in order to reach the widest possible audience. If the reader finds parts that are hard to understand, just skip them, and perhaps come back to them later if you decide to explore that part in greater detail. You should realize that in general only about 90% of professional physicists are able to make sense of less than 10% of what other physicists say. [156]
For the past 50 years most of the scientific research has been funded by the federal government, and the number of Ph.D. scientists working in the U.S. has far outstripped the growth of the population as a whole. President Eisenhower stated that "in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." [150]
You the taxpayer fund this research, and you also enjoy the benefits that legitimate research can bring. That is why it is important to understand what you are getting for your money, and for you to inform your elected representatives when you think your precious tax dollars are being wasted. This book is a journey through my career as a physicist, giving the interesting details of the many events, arguments, and evidence encountered along the way. I suspect that the reader will discover that the truth can be stranger than fiction.
The term physics was derived from the Greek word "physis" for nature, and the roots of physics lies in the first period of Greek philosophy in the sixth century B.C., where science, philosophy and religion were not separated. The aim of physics is to discover the essential nature of all things, and it lies at the base of all of natural science.
The father of modern physics and astronomy, Galileo Galilei, was outspoken, forceful, sometimes tactless, and he enjoyed debate. He made many powerful enemies, and was eventually tried by the Inquisition and convicted of heresy. In Galileo's time it was heresy to claim there was evidence that the Earth went around the Sun, and in our time it is heresy to argue that there is evidence that the speed of light in space is not constant for all observers, no matter how fast they are moving, as predicted by Prof. Albert Einstein's sacred 1905 Special Relativity Theory. The heresies change, but as you will find from reading this book, human nature remains the same!