The Structure of the Physical Universe

The Structure of the Physical Universe is a 1959 book by Dewey Bernard Larson. In the book's preface Larson describes the work as “a somewhat unusual expedient which is being used as a means of meeting an unusual situation" and states that for a number of decades he had been engaged in the study and analysis of basic physical processes and eventually arrived at what he characterizes as “some very significant results.”
Larson would later expand The Structure of the Physical Universe into a three volume set, Nothing But Motion (1979), Basic Properties of Matter (1988), and The Universe of Motion (1984).
Summary
Larson's initial objective was to try to calculate the observed properties of the elements and their compounds, such as viscosity, melting point, and conductivity. His research prompted Larson to form a new concept of the fundamental relationship of physical theory and he proposed two fundamental postulates:
#First Fundamental Postulate: “The physical universe is composed entirely of one component, space-time, existing in three dimensions, in discrete units, and in two reciprocal forms, space and time.”
#Second Fundamental Postulate: “The physical universe conforms to the relations of ordinary mathematics, its magnitudes are absolute and its geometry is Euclidean.”
The second postulate is thus a direct challenge to Albert Einstein’s Theory of General relativity, which is built on the non-Euclidean geometry and allows variable magnitudes. While Larson rejects Einstein’s explanation of gravitation as a deformation of space by mass, his point of departure is the same: the Equivalence principle which postulates that gravitation is equivalent to acceleration. Larson, however, goes a step further by claiming that gravitation and acceleration are really one and the same.
In The Structure of the Physical Universe Larson claimed that the two fundamental postulates are sufficient to derive the existence and the observed properties of photons, subatomic particles and atoms, as well as their cohesion in elements and compounds, the existence and properties of electricity, magnetism and gravitation, as well as the formation of stars and galaxies. On the largest scale, Larson claimed that the physical universe as a whole is in a dynamic steady state, with matter being constantly interchanged between its two sectors, i.e., the material sector, in which speeds do not exceed the speed of light, and what he calls the cosmic sector of greater-than-light speeds. Thus matter is constantly entering the material sector in the form of cosmic rays and being expelled from it when accelerated to greater-than-light speeds in the most powerful stellar explosions, i.e. quasars.

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