PREFACE
 
   It is hard, today, to find a book or essay which takes a critical attitude towards Einstein's treatment of time and space, as the basis of the theory of relativity. On the contrary, there are many books and essays which not only uncritically accept but also glorify everything that Einstein has ever written or said. Indeed, there seems to be a competition to prove who understands Einstein better, giving the impression that Einstein himself did not understand the problems as they do.
   A great avalanche of support has made this theory acceptable to many people, physicists and laymen alike, even though it clashes with the sense of reason. This is why it is very daring to even think whether the theory is good or not. To some extent the theory is pretty unintelligible so it makes people doubt themselves, and their capability to reason, let alone to judge it. Especially when one knows that there are so-called, experimental proofs of the theory's correctness.
   One gets the impression that physics has gone way ahead, far beyond the human capacity to reason. Mathematics has become the master and physics its servant, instead of the other way around. Many researchers in the area of physics, especially nuclear physics, rely on mathematics more and more, so they do not even make the effort to understand the physics of the process they are researching.
   This book originated in such circumstances, where I dared to, among other things, take a critical approach to Einstein's treatment of space and time, because they are the base not only of relativity theory but of physics generally. It is suggested, and I hope proved that the explanation of the result of Michelson's measurement with regard to the ether was wrong, that Lorentz hypothesis about the contraction of bodies due to motion through the ether was wrong, that Einstein's hypothesis about the contraction of bodies as a real physical process caused only by motion is wrong too, that Einstein's interpretations of Fizeau's experimental results were wrong, that Einstein's definition and interpretation of the contraction of space and the dilatation of time is wrong, that Einstein's definition and use of his theorem on the addition of speeds is wrong, that the relativistic way of defining the Doppler effect is wrong and that it is hard to maintain Einstein's claim that the velocity of light is the maximum velocity in nature.
   Due to the radical nature of such an attitude, it was necessary to make multiple proofs of certain claims, so that some sections presented here may appear to be too extensive and less interesting.
   The book gives construction data on and describes the function of new interferometers which have great potential to measure the speed of a body's motion in relation to the ether. One of these interferometers has been used in an attempt to confirm the existence of the cosmic quiescent ether, which Michelson was searching for. Since the results of these measurements were not positive, it can be confirmed that such an ether does not exist.
   A hypothesis on the existence of an earth's ether has also been given and explained. A method for confirming the existence of such an ether by means of a new interferometer has been described.
   A new interpretation of Fizeau's experiment with corresponding calculation of the interference fringes shift has also been given. This calculation completely agrees with the results of the experiment.
   This book also details chronological events which have led to the phenomenon of the relativistic comprehension of time and space and to the theory of relativity as well.
   Considering its subject matter and its attitude towards the same, the book is, in all events, unusual but I hope it is very interesting as well.
 

Belgrade, August 1994.

Milan R. Pavlovic

Preface to the third revised and supplemented edition
 
   The third edition of this book is extended to examine the relativistic determination of aberration, the mass of a body in motion, the connection between mass and energy and simultaneity, by which the following was proved.
   The relevant equations and formulas were not derived in the correct way.
   The Einstein's formula for transversal mass is not correct.
   The formulas for energy and are not relativistic.
   The relativistic way of determining simultaneity is wrong and has been so adjusted in order to reach a false conclusion, which leads to further false conclusions in relation to time and space.
   A special part of this book is devoted to the refutation of the existence of antimatter and the annihilation of matter and antimatter. On that basis a hypothesis is given on the existence of a new neutral particle, a hypothesis that the whole of matter consists of electrons and positrons only and a hypothesis that mass and matter are, on the whole, electromagnetic nature.
   In addition to the above, some smaller corrections have been made and the text of the previous edition of the book has been further extended.
 

Belgrade, August 1997.

Milan R. Pavlovic

Preface to the fourth revised and supplemented edition
 
   The fourth edition of this book has been extended to include: a new explanation of the phenomena of aberration, a method for checking the correctness of the hypothesis on which the new explanation of aberration is based, derivations of the equations and by the classical procedure, a new explanation of the phenomena of red shift in the radiation spectra of distant galaxies, new hypotheses about the origin of primary cosmic rays and their enormous energies and some remarks on de Broglie's hypothesis on the wave nature of particles.
   In addition to the above some corrections and additions have been made to the sections on aberration, the mass and energy of the electron in motion and simultaneity.
 

Belgrade, March 2000.

Milan R. Pavlovic