The Static Universe

The Static Universe:
Exploding the Myth of Cosmic Expansion
(paperback, 258 pages; ISBN 978-0986492624)

Hilton Ratcliffe

Excerpts from the Foreword by Sir Patrick Moore

From the Foreward by Sir Patrick Moore:

Hilton Ratcliffe is a highly-qualified professional astrophysicist, working actively on problems of cosmology; I am an amateur who has concentrated upon mapping the Moon. Cosmology is essentially mathematical, and I am no mathematician. This being so, it is natural to ask why I am writing a Foreword to this book.
The answer is quite straightforward. Despite his scientific qualifications, Hilton would be the first to agree that many of his views are completely unconventional. He does not believe in the "Big Bang" theory, according to which the entire universe-space, time, matter, in fact everything-was created at one definite moment in time, 13.7 thousand million years ago. In this he is not alone, and indeed the term "Big Bang" was first used scornfully by Sir Fred Hoyle, who was equally sceptical about it. But Hilton goes even further, and rejects the concept of an expanding universe, upon which all current cosmological theories are based. To him, instead of being immensely remote and immensely powerful, quasars are minor features expelled from relatively close galaxies; all our distance measures beyond the Galaxy are rejected for uncertainty. We must throw away most of our cherished thoughts and start again.
The instinctive reaction of many readers will be to give a sad smile, close the book and discard it. This, I submit, is precisely what should not be done. Hilton's theories, wildly unconventional though they may be, are backed up by what he regards as convincing evidence, and before rejecting them the reader must surely examine them very carefully indeed. It is easy to see that a tremendous amount of research has gone into the book.
Also, it is important to avoid unscientific prejudice. There is no doubt that Halton Arp, a leading observer but another Big Bang sceptic, was refused the use of large American telescopes because he was producing results that cut across conventional "sacred cows", and this is not an isolated case.
Is Hilton Ratcliffe right, or is he completely wrong? Probably 97% to 98% of modern cosmologists will say that he is wrong. I will reply differently, and use a well-worn catch-phrase: "You may well think so-I cannot possibly comment." But I cannot resist referring to a General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in the early 1960s, which I attended as a member of the Lunar Commission. Quasars had just been discovered, and nobody knew exactly what they were. On one occasion, I "looked in" during a discussion about them, and asked an innocent question: "Would it be worth looking around major galaxies, such as Centaurus A, to see if there is a concentration of objects with quasar-like spectra?" I forget what was said, if anything, but it seems just possible that the question was relevant.
In any case, read The Static Universe before making up your mind.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword By Sir Patrick Moore, CBE, FRS
Preliminary Notes
Chapter 1 - Far Things
Chapter 2 - The Hubble Universe
Chapter 3 - The Distance Ladder
Chapter 4 - Redshift
Chapter 5 - Quasars
Chapter 6 - The Microwave Background
Chapter 7 - Structures and Cycles
Chapter 8 - An Expanding Mind
Chapter 9 - Consensus Science
Addendum 1 - Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy
Addendum 2 - Classical Conventions
Addendum 1 - Abbreviations
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Hilton Ratcliffe is a South African-born physicist, mathematician, and astronomer. He is a member of both the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA) and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He is prominently opposed to the stranglehold that Big Bang Theory has on astronomical research and funding, and to this end became a founding member of the Alternative Cosmology Group (an association of some 700 leading scientists from all corners of the globe), which conducted its inaugural international conference in Portugal in 2005.
He is an active member of the organisational, scientific, and proceedings committees for the second ACG conference, which was held in the USA in September 2008. Hilton has been frequently interviewed in the press, radio, and television, and has authored a number of papers for scientific journals, books, and conferences. He writes a monthly astrophysical column for "Ndaba", the Durban Centre newsletter of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, and is editor of the ACG newsletter. He serves as consulting astrophysicist on the steering committee of the Durban Space Science Centre and Planetarium, a project of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (Durban Centre). Hilton Ratcliffe is best known in formal science as co-discoverer, together with eminent nuclear chemist Oliver Manuel and solar physicist Michael Mozina, of the CNO nuclear fusion cycle on the surface of the Sun, nearly 70 years after it was first predicted.
In his capacity as a Fellow of the (British) Institute of Physics, he involves himself in addressing the decline in student interest in physical sciences at both high school and university level, and particularly likes to encourage the reading of books. Hilton Ratcliffe may be reached by email at hilton@hiltonratcliffe.com.