Erwin Saxl
Encyclopedia
Erwin Joseph Saxl was a physicist and inventor. He was born in Vienna in 1904 and received his Ph.D. there in 1927. In the late 1920s he emigrated to the United States. In 1935 he founded the Saxl Instrument Company, which designed and manufactured tension meters for use in the textile industry, and later in other industries. The company, which Saxl ran jointly with his wife, Lucretia Hildreth Saxl, from their home in Harvard, Massachusetts
, was renamed Tensitron in 1953. Saxl is reported as having stated that he worked under Albert Einstein
. He died in 1981.
Saxl is most well known for a series of controversial experiments in which he measured unexpected changes in the period of a torsion pendulum under various conditions. In one series of experiments, the period of a torsion pendulum situated inside a Faraday cage, with the pendulum and the cage connected by a conducting path, was observed to increase as the voltage on the cage was increased. In another experiment, the period of the pendulum was seen to increase during an eclipse. Saxl is reported to have attempted, without success, to get this work published in the Physical Review
; eventually the work was published in Nature
.
In the early 1960s, Saxl began a collaboration with Mildred Allen
of Mount Holyoke College
. In 1971, Saxl and Allen published a report of anomalous changes in the period of a torsion pendulum during a solar eclipse
in 1970 and hypothesized that “gravitational theory needs to be modified”. In addition, they observed unexplained diurnal variation in the period of the pendulum. None of the effects observed by Saxl and Allen have obvious explanations in terms of well-established theories of gravity and electromagnetism. Although more subtle explanations, still using conventional physical theory, have been proffered there does not appear to be general agreement as to the cause of the anomalies. Saxl and Allen's claim that general relativity must be modified, and earlier claims of a similar nature by Allais
based on observations of anomalies
in the behaviour of a paraconical pendulum, have not won acceptance by the physics community, and recent attempts to reproduce the phenomena have not been succuessful.
Harvard, Massachusetts
Harvard is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. A farming community settled in 1658 and incorporated in 1732, it has been home to several non-traditional communities, such as Harvard Shaker Village and the utopian Transcendentalist center Fruitlands...
, was renamed Tensitron in 1953. Saxl is reported as having stated that he worked under Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. He died in 1981.
Saxl is most well known for a series of controversial experiments in which he measured unexpected changes in the period of a torsion pendulum under various conditions. In one series of experiments, the period of a torsion pendulum situated inside a Faraday cage, with the pendulum and the cage connected by a conducting path, was observed to increase as the voltage on the cage was increased. In another experiment, the period of the pendulum was seen to increase during an eclipse. Saxl is reported to have attempted, without success, to get this work published in the Physical Review
Physical Review
Physical Review is an American scientific journal founded in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research and scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Society. The journal is in its third series, and is split in several...
; eventually the work was published in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
.
In the early 1960s, Saxl began a collaboration with Mildred Allen
Mildred Allen
Mildred Allen was an American physicist.-Early life and education:Mildred Allen was born in Sharon, Massachusetts to MIT professor C. Frank Allen and Caroline Hadley Allen. She had one younger sister, Margaret Allen Anderson.Allen graduated from Vassar College in 1916 with Phi Beta Kappa honors...
of Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
. In 1971, Saxl and Allen published a report of anomalous changes in the period of a torsion pendulum during a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
in 1970 and hypothesized that “gravitational theory needs to be modified”. In addition, they observed unexplained diurnal variation in the period of the pendulum. None of the effects observed by Saxl and Allen have obvious explanations in terms of well-established theories of gravity and electromagnetism. Although more subtle explanations, still using conventional physical theory, have been proffered there does not appear to be general agreement as to the cause of the anomalies. Saxl and Allen's claim that general relativity must be modified, and earlier claims of a similar nature by Allais
Maurice Allais
Maurice Félix Charles Allais was a French economist, and was the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources."...
based on observations of anomalies
Allais effect
The Allais effect is a claimed anomalous precession of the plane of oscillation of a pendulum during a solar eclipse. It has been speculated to be unexplained by standard physical models of gravitation, but recent mainstream physics publications tend rather to posit conventional explanations for...
in the behaviour of a paraconical pendulum, have not won acceptance by the physics community, and recent attempts to reproduce the phenomena have not been succuessful.