Dr. David Maker

TBE

27 August 2001

I would like to add my name and endorsement to the petition challenging the firing of Jeff Schmidt.

Fundamental physics has nothing to crow about these days. Advances in particle theory have been tepid at best since the 1970s and most of this is due of course to the professional atmosphere that Jeff Schmidt apparently was critical of. This man is trying to help the field of physics more than anyone else and is being punished for it.

Given that these particle physics theories are full of free parameters, many assumptions (group structures and such) one realizes that some fundamentally new approaches are needed. But in the present atmosphere of professional arrogance in the physics community one observes easily that such approaches will never see the light of day.

Example: gauge theories. A gauge theory is really an acknowledgment that you don't know the system very well. In the case of gauged General Relativity you can arbitrarily add four more equations to the system such as the harmonic coordinate conditions. And nobody bats an eye. But what if the harmonic coordinate conditions are physical, such as those associated with lepton zitterbewegung oscillation, then the gauge goes away and a lot of interesting physics results. But this kind of challenge to gauge theories would be stopped by the Brodsky's of the physics community with no reason given, except perhaps that it is too great of a step. Taking the arbitrariness out of physics is too great of a step heh?

I can name other situations where you can straighten out the gobbledygook, but the present atmosphere won't allow it. The hard wired remain so.

Good luck to Jeff Schmidt for making the attempt.

Sincerely,

David Maker