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Friday Seminar Series

September 2, 2011 
11:15am, 404 Plant Science 

Randy Wayne 
Department of Plant Biology 
Cornell University 

Title: 
“Ask not what physics can do for biology, ask what biology can do for physics.” 
A Plant Cell Biologist’s Perspective on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity

What would you do if your research led you to question one of the most famous scientists or one of the most famous theories in history?

While we are often told to stay within the confines of our credentials, historically, there has not been a “box” to stay within, and consequently, botanists, physicians and physiologists have played a major role in the discovery of the Laws of Nature and the nature of physical reality. Thomas Young’s study of astigmatism led him to develop the wave theory of light. J. Robert Mayer’s study of blood color led him to formulate the First Law of Thermodynamics. Jean Poiseuille’s study of blood flow led him to develop the eponymous law of fluid flow. Adolf Fick’s study of kidneys led him to develop the eponymous laws of diffusion. Hugo de Vries’ study of plasmolysis and Wilhelm Pfeffer’s study of leaf movement paved the way for Jacobus van’t Hoff and Svante Arrhenius to develop physical chemistry and the theory of solutions; and Robert Brown’s study of pollen and pollination provided the physical phenomenon that led to Einstein’s description of Brownian motion and his mathematical proof of the reality of molecules.

I will describe how my knowledge of living plant cells and light microscopy along with a healthy dose of courage allowed me to find an oversight in Einstein’s development of the Special Theory of Relativity and will present my alternative to Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. In the process I will touch on the importance of common sense and questioning authority.

Plant Biology Retreat

August 25, 2012 

Randy Wayne 
Department of Plant Biology 
Cornell University 

Title: 
“The Gravitational Deflection of Starlight.”

Cornell Student Chapter of the Optical Society of America

October 2, 2015 
4 PM, 247 Clark 

Randy Wayne 
Section of Plant Biology 
CALS School of Integrative Plant Science 
Cornell University 

Title: 
“The Nature of Light: A View from the Ag Quad.”

Light is of paramount importance to plants and all living organisms that depend on plants for food, clothing and shelter. Plants not only use light to power photosynthesis but they also recognize the quality, quantity and duration of light in order to determine the direction of the sun, the time of day, and the seasons of the year. Thus it is natural for a botanist to ask, “What is the nature of light itself?” The photon is currently considered to be a mathematical point or a collection of infinite plane waves that move through spacetime that can be warped by matter. Starting with Maxwell’s equations, I will question the properties given to time, space and the vacuum by the theories of relativity. I will do so in an experimentally-verifiable way. Then I will transfer the liberated degrees of freedom from spacetime and the vacuum to the photon. In doing so, I will be able to characterize the photon in an intelligible manner as the carrier of the electromagnetic force.

 
 
   
 
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