Indians challenge Einstein

Two Indians, working separately, not only challenge Albert Einstein's theory, but also claim he erred when he attributed a dual nature to light. Both theories are mathematical in nature, and, if proved true, can revolutionise the way humans see the universe.

Einstein had claimed that light, and all other forms behave both as waves and as particles, called photons. But S Hazra, an engineer at Bhilai, says Einstein did not or could not justify logically how two different models could be accepted for the same thing.

Worse, says Hazra, Einstein's theory is self-contradictory regarding the propagation of light in space. Einstein fudged that bit by simply saying both things together, says Hazra. ''Had he stated that a ray of light propagates as waves in a medium and as particles in space, at least this self-contradiction could have been avoided,'' he added.

Not only did the scientific community accept the dual model, but went further to use the theory to develop quantum mechanics, which accepts that an electron behaves both as waves as well as particle.

Hazra's theory proposes that a ''ray of light is a stream of particles travelling at tremendous velocity away from it source and the pattern of numerical distribution of these particles along the length of the ray is wavy.''

His concept explains various optical phenomena without using a combination of models, like S K Razdan's ''vision beyond relativity'' does. which harmonises with the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle.

Razdan, from Srinagar, says his "theory of vanishing space" is not a discovery or an invention, but simply an idea whose time has come. The theory is allegedly a synthesis of all the great 20th century ideas in physics and mathematics. On the face of it, it is consistent with the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Less combative than Hazra's theory, it seeks to settle differences between many conflicting theories.

The theory attempts to simply explain many problems such as why black bodies emit radiation though theoretically they shouldn't, the origin of the universe and the force with which all bodies move in space.

The theory also claims to settle the paradox of gravity and to answer doubts expressed by Newton and Einstein about the phenomenon.

For example, gravity's mystery is that bodies in space accelerate in the absence of any observable outside force. The graviton, a postulated particle that could explain such behaviour, is yet to be detected by scientists. Razdan's theory hopes to resolve the problem without depending on the still hypothetical particle.

Razdan's theory also has an explanation for the discoveries made by astronomers who, using the Hubble telescope, discovered stars that appear to be older than the currently estimated age of the universe. That upset all existing theories of light, gravity and matter.