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CRITIQUE OF PHYSICS BY L L WHYTE LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. BROADWAY HOUSH: 68-74 CARTER 1931 LANE. B.C. PRINTED J:lrf GREAT BRITAIN 9V RL\.DLEY BRoTIR.RS, I8 :OEVOJii'SillltB S'I'RU"'', LOND01111 JI:.C.2; .&ND ILSDl'OR.Dt D:trl'. TO LO'ITE CONTENTS PAGE ix PREFACE QUOTATIONS FROM EINSTEIN, EDDINGTON AND xi HEISENBERG CHAPTER I SPACE-TIME §I. I INTRODUCTORY §2. UNITARY THEORY 5 §3. THE STRUCTURE OF MEASURING RODS 8 §4. §S. THE §6. THE UNIVERSAL LENGTHS IN QUANTUM PHYSICS §7. THE KINEMATIC SIMILARITY IN CLASSICAL PHYSICS ABSENCE OF SIMILARITY IN PHYSICS FOUR UNIVERSAL LENGTHS IN §9. §10. 17 21 UNITARY 24 THEORY §8. 12 RELATIVITY 27 (Contd.) MEASURING RODS CLOCKS SPACE-TIME METRICAL COORDINATES 32 35 §II. SPACE-TIME TOPOLOGICAL ORDER 40 §12. METRIC AND ORDER IN PHYSICAL THEORY §13. COURSE CALCULUS 46 50 §14. UNITARY COURSE THEORY 54 CHAPTER II COORDINATE THEORIES FROM THE STANDPOINT OF UNITARY COURSE THEORY §15. BASIC §16. §17. GENERAL FORM OF COORDINATE LAWS 58 62 SPECIAL AND GENERAL COVARIANCE 67 CONCEPTS OF COORDINATE vii THEORY viii CONTENTS PAGE §18. QUANTUM THEORY §19. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF QUANTUM THEORY 70 76 §20. SPECIAL QUANTUM-MECHANICAL PROBLEMS 83 §2I. PARTICLES AND WAVES 8g §22. CLASSICAL, RELATIVITY, QUANTUM, AND UNITARY §2J. THE g6 COURSE THEORY SIX UNIVERSAL §24. SYMMETRIES §25- UNSOLVED PROBLEMS §26. SUMMARY DIMENSIONAL CONSTANTS 107 IN COORDINATE LAWS IN 101 COORDINATE THEORY II2 Il3 CHAPTER III GENERAL FEATURES OF UNITARY COURSE THEORY §27. INTRODUCTORY §28. THE THREE NUMBERS §29. LOGIC, CONCEPT, §30. THE STRUCTURE OF UNITARY COURSE §31. SIMPLICITY IN PHYSICAL THEORY 128 130 II5 a, {3, y OF COORDINATE THEORY 116 120 AND FACT THEORY 124 §32. THE LIMITED COMPLEXITY OF NATURE §33· THE EXHAUSTION OF MICRO-ANALYSIS 132 §34· GENERAL CONCEPTS OF NATURAL SCIENCE 136 §35· GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL SCIENCE 138 §36. LINES FOR RESEARCH 142 §37· CONCLUSION 145 NOTES REFERENCES APPENDIX A. EINSTEIN AND THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY APPENDIX B. THE DEVELOPMENT OF QUANTUM THEORY 173 182 PREFACE THE completion of general relativity theory (Igi6) and of the general methods of quantum theory (1927) leaves physical theory in a situation of special interest since these theories lack an adequate common foundation and their interrela tions are still obscure. The Critique has been written in the belief that a revision of the fundamental concepts underlying both relativity theory and quantum theory is an essenti