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State of play in 2004 |
Ivor Catt |
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Ivor Catt 28mar04 I find that even my closest colleagues find it difficult to retain clarity over what is happening in electromagnetic theory, and its implications. They are definitely not watching an attempt to gain attention, or recognition, or acceptance of new theory of electromagnetism. Any such attempt was abandoned decades ago. It is important to appreciate the
timescale of this adventure. It is far longer than any previous confrontation
in history between an innovator and a conservative Establishment. Such
confrontations, for instance between Galileo and the Church, usually have a
span of less than twenty years. In contrast, the saga of Ivor Catt and
Electromagnetic Theory has already lasted for 40 years, from 1964 to 2004.
This makes it unprecedented, and that alone should give observers reason to
suspect that it has gone through many more stages than, for instance, the
confrontation between Lavoisier and the Establishment over oxidation, or
Darwin over Natural Selection. Admittedly, Heaviside’s collision with the
Establishment lasted for forty years, surely ending when he was given “…. the IEE Faraday
Medal, the highest honour which this Institution confers ….. that began in
1922 with Oliver Heaviside.”
However, unlike Catt, Heaviside failed to move on from the typical
normal first stages in the behaviour of an unrecognised, or suppressed,
innovator. It is worth noting that Heaviside’s subject, involving the
previous longest standoff, was the same subject as Catt’s. |
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