1. The Need of New Approaches - Kritische Stimmen zur ...

Chapter 9: The Thought Experiment
95 Years of Criticism of the Special Theory of Relativity (1908-2003)
The G. O. Mueller Research Project [GOM-Project Relativity]
Description of a German Research Project of international scope, presenting a documentation of 3789
publications criticizing the theory, distributing this documentation to libraries, to the printed media and to
eminent representatives of public opinion, and addressing open letters to the members of the German Federal
Parliament (Bundestag) and to journalists of several German newspapers
by G. O. Mueller and Karl Kneckebrodt
Preliminary manuscript delivery for testing purposes
Germany, May 2006 - [size: 51 pages]
2012
Three months later the publication was sent, with a “First Open Letter”, to 290 addressees in 11 countries:
First Open Letter about the Freedom of Science
to some 290 public figures, personalities, newspapers, and journals in Europe and the USA
Enclosed 1 CD-ROM (8 cm)
Editing: July 2006 - Shipping: August 2006, date of postmark
[11 countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United
Kingdom, USA.] - [size: 7 pages]
With the English-language introduction and the “First Open Letter”, our project had again undertaken a new
approach. It was very successful because we found new partners in the Internet and, by overcoming the language
barriers, received positive reactions from an international public, from the Anglo-Saxon countries and also from
Russia and China.
The Supply of the Libraries and the Censorship
The research work for the documentation and the procurement of the critical publications discovered for purposes
of evaluation in most cases paint a depressing picture of the availability of critical publications in the holdings of
the scientific libraries, both in Germany and abroad.
We therefore sent publications of our research project invariably free of charge to a circle of 138 libraries to
date, both in Germany and abroad. So far 66 libraries have accepted the gifts and have referred to them in their
catalogues.
The fact that about half of the libraries have disposed of our publications via their wastepaper baskets is
something they are perfectly entitled to do, since no library is compelled to accept unsolicited gifts sent to it. On
the other hand, this raises the interesting question as to what other, better source of critical literature on the special
theory of relativity these libraries have to offer their visitors?
Since we know of no competing documentation, we assume that these libraries want to safeguard their users
from confrontation with horrid criticism of the theory. The librarians of these libraries see themselves as governesses
in the service of the censor cartel. The reaction of the other half of the libraries and librarians is therefore welcomed
by us all the more!
Other critics too have occasionally sent their publications to libraries as gifts. With the continuous supply of a
larger circle of libraries, however, we have taken a new approach. The users of the better-informing libraries will
come across our documentation and the “open letters” in the course of their catalogue researches into the theory of
relativity.
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G. O. Mueller: STR