In 1980, I was a computer science major at Wright State University when I encountered time dilation and length contraction from special relativity in introductory physics. I immediately changed my major to physics.
I earned my PhD in physics from the University of Cincinnati in 1987 with a thesis in general relativistic cosmology. Immediately thereafter, I published papers on misconceptions of Big Bang cosmology, e.g., I explained how we can observe galaxies with Hubble recession velocities greater than the speed of light.
In 1994, I read Mermin’s famous 1981 paper, “Bringing home the atomic world: Quantum mysteries for anybody” that Feynman called “One of the most beautiful papers in physics that I know.” Therein, he presented the “Mermin device” that illustrates the conundrum of entanglement per the Bell spin states for the “general reader.” He then challenged the “physicist reader” to explain the way the device works “in terms meaningful to a general reader struggling with the dilemma raised by the device.” That started my foray into foundations of physics (see my Research page).
In 2020, after 26 years of research into foundations of physics, I finally published an answer to Mermin’s challenge (here is a version for a general audience; here is an 8.5-min video on it). In 2022, I followed that with a paper, “No Preferred Reference Frame at the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics” where I explained how the information-theoretic principle of “Information Invariance & Continuity” at the basis of the axiomatic reconstruction of quantum mechanics entails the SO(3) invariant measurement of Planck’s constant h in spacetime. [Here is a version for a general audience.] In that case, the inertial reference frames being related by spatial rotations are those associated with the mutually complementary spin measurements. Thus, the relativity principle applied to the measurement of the speed of light c leads to the kinematics of special relativity (Minkowski space) and the relativity principle applied to the measurement of Planck’s constant h leads to the kinematics of quantum mechanics (qubit Hilbert space).
These papers reveal an underlying coherence between special relativity and quantum mechanics, bringing my life in physics full circle. Along the way I have written many papers, blogs (see my Physics Forums Insights page), and a 2018 book on my interpretation of modern physics called “Beyond the Dynamical Universe.”
I have broad intellectual interests and have taught astronomy, cosmology, philosophy of science, differential geometry, acoustics, science & religion, partial differential equations, numerical methods, bionanotechnology, statics, theories of consciousness, and neuropsychology, as well as traditional areas of physics, e.g., introductory physics, advanced laboratory, quantum mechanics, general & special relativity, electromagnetism, and mechanics.