Passing of Roland Dishington
It is with great sadness that I pass along the news from Roland Dishington’s widow, Patricia, of his passing in January 15, 2016 at the age of 97. Roland died peacefully in the presence of his family in Pacific Palisades, CA, after suffering physical problems for many years.
I worked with Roland for several years as he developed his ether based theory that affects many of the major aspects of physics. He published his results in a volume entitled Physics 2001 which I studied intensely from cover to cover. He tutored me in return for my proof reading and checking his equations. His approach is very mathematical but his Appendices are themselves a handy reference to his techniques and also the applications of mathematical tools to physics in general. He was not a slave to the math and had an extraordinary ability to view things from a real world physical perspective. He was a scientist for Hughes for most of his career and studied under Feynman.
I found his application of the ether in describing most of the particles in the “zoo” by specific ether density distributions, where several constants of physics from experiments can be derived from his theory, to be astounding. His precise multi-layer description of the ether density distributions of particles, from the single layer 1/2 spin particles like electrons to the triple layer protons and neutrons, makes for a clearer and simpler interpretation of the enigma of quarks and fractional charges. Basic attributes of particles such as charge and mass are results of straightforward functions of the particles’ ether density distribution such as the averaging aspects of the Laplacian and the square of the gradient.
I have always felt that more critical review of Roland’s ideas should have been accomplished but I was unsuccessful in getting a reasonable forum of critique within the NPA community or elsewhere. The main problem as I see it is that there is considerable detail involved in the groundwork, establishing the frames of reference and characterizations of the ether, that are necessary before getting into the meat of his analyses. Some have nevertheless appreciated his work like Ron Hatch, Caroline Thompson, Roger Rydin and others.
I would be glad to correspond with anyone interested in pursuing Roland Dishington’s theses.
RIP
Stan Sholar, stansholar@gmail.com