Forth Dimensions

The Forth Dimension

Mainstream physics currently contends that only 4% of our Universe is made of normal matter and energy. The remaining 96% is thought to be mysterious dark matter and dark energy that are not at all understood. This presents a quandary relative to Einstein’s observation: “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” Using judicious analogies, dry humor, and the established laws of physics, Ron Forth presents a new cosmological paradigm, honouring the principles of classical physics and relativity while examining the astronomical observations and ensuing inferences from a fresh perspective. Beginning by replacing curved spacetime with contoured four-dimensional space-energy, a new theory of gravity is developed. Using logical and mathematical arguments, he explains how forces, inertia, and entropy arise within this framework. Topics including black holes, gravitational waves, unification of the four fundamental forces, and the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics are touched upon in the context of the model. He shines a light on dark matter and dark energy, potentially dispelling their shadows. A possible ultimate fate of the Universe, a topic of interest to most of its inhabitants, is proposed. Covering the life of the Universe in a compact book, The Forth Dimension may prove revolutionary – or not - but it will hopefully provoke further discussion of our understanding of the Universe. The objective is for professional scientists to consider the implications of the philosophy, hypotheses, and analysis presented. Various tests are proposed to experimentally determine whether the ideas are science or science fiction.

Forth Dimensions

The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art, revised edition

The long-awaited new edition of a groundbreaking work on the impact of alternative concepts of space on modern art. In this groundbreaking study, first published in 1983 and unavailable for over a decade, Linda Dalrymple Henderson demonstrates that two concepts of space beyond immediate perception—the curved spaces of non-Euclidean geometry and, most important, a higher, fourth dimension of space—were central to the development of modern art. The possibility of a spatial fourth dimension suggested that our world might be merely a shadow or section of a higher dimensional existence. That iconoclastic idea encouraged radical innovation by a variety of early twentieth-century artists, ranging from French Cubists, Italian Futurists, and Marcel Duchamp, to Max Weber, Kazimir Malevich, and the artists of De Stijl and Surrealism. In an extensive new Reintroduction, Henderson surveys the impact of interest in higher dimensions of space in art and culture from the 1950s to 2000. Although largely eclipsed by relativity theory beginning in the 1920s, the spatial fourth dimension experienced a resurgence during the later 1950s and 1960s. In a remarkable turn of events, it has returned as an important theme in contemporary culture in the wake of the emergence in the 1980s of both string theory in physics (with its ten- or eleven-dimensional universes) and computer graphics. Henderson demonstrates the importance of this new conception of space for figures ranging from Buckminster Fuller, Robert Smithson, and the Park Place Gallery group in the 1960s to Tony Robbin and digital architect Marcos Novak.