Posted by Alan7Marshall on November 10, 2001:

In Reply to: Magnets, good! posted by DStahl on November 10, 2001:

Fine. You are welcome to your opinion re Newman --- just as I am mine. And, in fact, I do consider Newman to have innovated a deeper understanding of such phenomena as magnetic attraction/repulsion and Fleming's Rule. Moreover, I believe he will someday be recognized across the world for his important scientific achievements.

Such scientists as Semmelweis and Goddard were personally attacked, ridiculed, and even ostracized in their day. Semmelweis went to his grave having been viewed as "repugnant" by his so-called peers; but they were wrong and ultimately, he was proven right by a younger generation.

Remember the quotation by Max Planck: "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

As to Einstein: his work in question was NOT corroborated as a theory until 1919. That is a fact. Prior to that time his concept (as viewed by others) was a viable hypothesis.

As to your comment regarding "publishing":

If you examine history, you'll find that those maverick inventors who are self-educated may have a difficult time being accepted by the conventional scientific community. And even those who have more formal education STILL have a very hard time. Case in point: look at Goddard who was publicly attacked as a fool and an idiot back in the 1920s.

In Newman's fundamental book, I've read a chapter that features letter after letter from so-called "peer review journals" all giving him the run-around. One of the first letters from the Editor of a scientific journal A thanks Newman for his submission and tells him to send it to the editor of journal B. Then the editor of journal B does the same and sends him to journal C. Then that editor sends him to scientific organization D who sends him to university physics department E ... etc., etc., until he gets to journal editor Y who finally sends him back to journal A. It's the classic "pass the buck".

But I guess Newman is in pretty good company .... there have even been some notable thinkers in history who've had their original theses rejected by the conventional scientific community existing at the time.

Someone once said, "today's absurd/revolutionary thinking becomes tomorrow's conventional science."

Thus, at some point in the pass-the-buck-run-around, Newman finally went his own way and published his own book.

In fact, it was Dr. Robert Smith, Chief, Orbital & Space Environment Branch, Space Sciences Laboratory, NASA, who was so impressed with Newman's work that he originally recommended Newman seek publication through conventional channels. It was then that Newman was given the run-around described above. But at least there are individuals such as Dr. Smith who are open-minded and receptive to new ideas.

Alan