Foundations of a Theory of Matter (Excerpts)

Abstract

1. The significance of the recently acquired empirical facts about the nature of the atoms ultimately amounts to something essentially only negative, namely that in the atoms' interior the laws of mechanics and Maxwell's equations cannot be valid. But regarding what should replace these equations in order to encompass from a single standpoint the profusion of remarkable facts associated with the notion of quantum of action, and in addition the laws of atomic spectra and so forth, the experimental evidence is silent. In fact, I believe that one must not expect anything like that from experiment alone. Experiment and theory must work hand in hand, and that is not possible as long as the theory has no foundation on which it can be based. Thus it seems to me absolutely necessary for further progress of our understanding to supply a new foundation for the theory of matter. With this work, I have tried in the following to make a start, but in view of the difficulty of the matter one should not right away expect results accessible to experiment. The immediate goals that I set myself are: to explain the existence of the indivisible electron and: to view the actuality of gravitation as in a necessary connection with the existence of matter. I believe one must start with this, for electric and gravitational effects are surely the most direct expression of those forces upon which rests the very existence of matter. It would be senseless to imagine matter whose | smallest parts did not possess electric charges, equally senseless however matter without gravitation. Only when the two goals I mentioned are reached will we be able to consider making the connection between the theory and the complex phenomena mentioned above. But achieving both of these goals is still a long way off, and below I can publish only preliminary work, which will perhaps help us to find the way.