Dewey Bernard Larson

Dewey Bernard Larson (November 1, 1898; McCanna, North Dakota – May 25, 1990; Portland, Oregon) was an American engineer and the author of numerous books in the realm of physics, astrophysics and economic science.

Education

Larson graduated from Oregon State University in the class of 1922 along with his classmate and lifelong acquaintance Linus Pauling and with a major in Mining Engineering. As Chief Engineer for a utility company in Portland, Larson was heavily involved with research activity for its chemical products. In the meantime, influenced by the Australian-born philosopher Samuel Alexander and others, he pursued theoretical physics research on his own, seeking a means to calculate the inter-atomic distances of solid state elements from first principles.

Theoretical Work

In the physical sciences Larson developed what he termed the Reciprocal System of Theory, based on two fundamental postulates on the nature of space and time, claiming to derive the existence of matter, radiation, electricity, magnetism, gravitation etc. directly from the mentioned postulates, which are:

1. The physical universe is composed entirely of one component, motion, existing in three dimensions, in discrete units, and with two reciprocal aspects, space and time.
2. The physical universe conforms to the relations of ordinary commutative mathematics, its primary magnitudes are absolute, and its geometry is Euclidean.

In his books on economics Larson developed what he deemed to be a general theory of economics based on the scientific method. The main thesis of The Road to Full Employment ^[1] is that unemployment is independent on the size of the labor force, but determined by the value of labor being at least equal to its total cost. In The Road to Permanent Prosperity ^[2] the author formulates a number of fundamental principles, the first three of which are:

1. Purchasing power is created solely by the production of transferable utilities, and it is not extinguished until those utilities are destroyed by consumption or otherwise.
2. Only goods can pay for goods.
3. Purchasing power and goods are simply two aspects of the same thing, and they are produced at the same time, by the same act, and in the same quantity.

Publications

Physical Sciences

• The Structure of the Physical Universe (1959)^[3]
• The Case Against the Nuclear Atom (1963)^[4]
• Beyond Newton (1964)
• New Light on Space and Time (1965) ^[5]
• Quasars and Pulsars (1971)
• Nothing But Motion (1979)
• The Neglected Facts of Science (1982)
• The Universe of Motion (1984)
• Basic Properties of Matter (1988)

Economic Sciences

• The Road to Full Employment (1976)
• The Road to Permanent Prosperity (unpublished)

Metaphysics

• Beyond Space and Time (1995)

Reception

Larson’s work has not received general acceptance by the scientific community. Amongst academics, his work was championed and further developed by Dr. K.V.K. Nehru of the Department of Engineering at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad, India, along with Dr Vijay Kumar of the Department of Physics at the same institution, as well as by individual researchers, such as Dr. Ronald Satz^[6] and Lawrence Denslow.^[7] The latest work in the theory is by Satz, The Reciprocal System: Microcosmos Database, 2014, the world's first computational theoretical database for the properties of matter. www.reciprocalsystem.guru

A scientific society devoted to the publication of scientific papers on the Reciprocal System was set up in 1971, published a quarterly journal ^[8] and held annual conferences until the late 1990s. Tne next conference will be in August 2016.

References

1. The Road to Full Employment
2. The Road to Permanent Prosperity
3. A review by Mario Girolama Fracastoro (1914-1994), then director of the Catania Astrophysical Observatory, published in Scientia (Bologna, Italy), Vol. 95, (1960), p. 299, concluded: “The work furnishes a useful exercise for those who wish to review objectively their scientific ideas and beliefs.” Full text of the review (in French)
4. North Pacific Publishers, 139 pp. Review by Isaac Asimov in Chemical and Engineering News, July 29, 1963: "As an iconoclastic work, Larson's book is refreshing. The scientific community requires stirring up now and then; cherished assumptions must be questioned and the foundations of science must be strenuously inspected for possible cracks. It is not a popular service and Mr. Larson will probably not be thanked for doing this for nuclear physics, though he does it in a reasonably quiet and tolerant manner and with a display of a good knowledge of the field."
5. North Pacific Publishers. Review by Professor Felix Schmeidler, Munich University Observatory, Naturwissenschaftliche Rundshau, Sept. 1966: "Only a careful investigation of all of the author's deliberations can show whether or not he is right. The official schools of natural philosophy should not shun this (considerable, to be sure) effort. After all, we are concerned here with questions of fundamental significance. Still less will it be permissible to condemn the author as a heretic just because he opposes the 'accepted' doctrines of modern physics. Opposition is illegitimate only if essential error is proved … Whether an unbiased investigation of the author's theses would lead to confirmation or rejection is not for the reviewer to say in advance; the question is too complicated to be decided briefly."
6. The Unmysterious Universe, 1971
7. Fundamentals of Scalar Motion
8. Reciprocity