Harald Nordenson

Harald Nordenson (1886–1980) was a Swedish chemist best known for his criticisms of the theory of relativity.

Harald Nordenson

Biography

Nordenson was born in Göttingen, Germany on August 10, 1886.[1] He earned his Ph.D. in 1914 at Uppsala University, where he served as assistant professor in physical chemistry 1914–1919.[1] He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1948 and chairman or member in different industrial, political and cultural boards, Nordenson held positions in industry as technical director and CEO. He wrote his first book about Einstein's theories in Swedish in 1922,[2] which developed into his 1969 English book, Relativity, Time and Reality .[3] He studied the philosophy of Hägerström and Phalèn, and describes also their opinions about Einstein's theories in his book, together with reviews of many other contributors.

His book, Relativity, Time and Reality, is a controversial critique of Albert Einstein's concepts of time and simultaneity in Special Relativity.[4] Nordenson attacked Einstein's theory from rules of logic and concluded that "The Theory of Relativity is not physics but philosophy and in my opinion poor philosophy".[4] His arguments have been generally considered invalid.

The primary objection in the first part of his critique is that Einstein's concept of simultaneity, while seemingly not depending on Newtonian time, nevertheless presupposes it:

Both in the Special and the General Theory the characterization of the movement of our system of reference K′ in relation to another presupposes a time concept valid for the whole of space.
Since Einstein rejects classical a priori universal and uniform time, his first task is to create a new time concept, and this he undertakes to do with the aid of the light-ray regulation of clocks. This however, presupposes time relation between distant points in order to identify them and through his reasonings Einstein unconsciously presupposes time in the classical sense.
…
The result is that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is based on the indiscriminate use of the word ‘time’ in two different meanings which makes his Theory untenable from a logical point of view.

— page 120 of Relativity, Time and Reality

Nordenson was a member of the upper house of the Parliament of Sweden from 1938 to 1953, representing the National Organization of the Right.

Selected publications

References
  1. Strute, Karl; Doelken, Theodor. (1981). Who's Who in Scandinavia - Volume 1. Who's Who, the International Red Series Verlag. p. 750
  2. Nordenson, Harald (1922), Einsteins Relativitetsteori och den Fysikaliska Verkligheten (in Swedish), A. B. Nordiska Bokhandeln
  3. Nordenson, Harald (1969), Relativity, Time and Reality, London: George Allen and Unwin, ISBN 0-04-192021-X, SBN 04 192021 X
  4. Smith, Roger. (1996). Popular Physics and Astronomy: An Annotated Bibliography. Scarecrow Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780810831490

Further reading
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