A Scientist's Stumble Toward Faith

 OK. Let's tackle this one first.  OK. The only equation I knew that connects speed and time is from that same freshman lecture about Special Relativity.   I stared at this. Turned my head sideways, first to the left, then to the right. Upside down. With some algebra, I saw it. It's the equation of a circle! SIDENOTE: I've wrestled mightily on this. With c as the max, v/c always has to be less than one. So Δ t 0  has to be less than  Δt . Huh? Usually, naught (the subscript  0 in  Δ t 0)  indicates some universal thing, which would suggest it would be time at no velocity, i.e. maximum rate of time. But the only way this makes sense (algebraically AND intuitively) is if Δ t 0 , in fact if the whole right-hand side of the top equation is all about ME. MY experience of time when I MYSELF move through space at this velocity. So  Δt  (left-hand side) is whatever time YOU observe as I whiz past you. So MY time is always less than YOUR time. Ti...

After a very satisfying 25-year career, I retired. And decided, Gol' Darn It, I'm gonna get to the bottom of Einstein's Preposterous Postulate that Light Moves at the Same Speed in All Frames of Reference. So I read a lot of books for clues of where to start. Leading cosmologists are really into writing books for the "general audience." Nice try, guys. I have a freakin' PhD from MIT in Physical Chemistry, and it was still a slog! Yet, I peeled out a very intriguing idea -- "We move through spacetime at the speed of light." What does that mean? (Full disclosure, this was also an F-word-worthy special occasion.) I also picked up that Einstein got the idea that the speed of light was a constant from Maxwell's Equations about electromagnetism. OKAY! I have some leads! (c) Carol VanZoeren 2023

 After college and grad school, I started a career with lots of scientists and engineers. Our day-to-day job was busy designing and delivering new products, but every now and then I'd ask a coworker -- "That whole thing about light moving at the same speed in all frames of reference? Doesn't that bother you?" Usually the response was quizzical concern. For my sanity. But when anything else, it was invariably "No, it doesn't bother me. That's just the way it is." Sigh. (c) Carol VanZoeren 2023

One of the topics in my college freshman physics class was Special Relativity. The first step of special relativity is to assume that the speed of light, c, is constant in all frames of reference. Sounds innocuous enough.  But hang on – I’ve passed other cars on the highway, and I wasn’t moving 60 mph relative to them! Just what is the preposterous postulate?  Gedanken experiment, indeed!  But, as a lowly freshman, it was not my job to question Einstein. My job was to get an A. So I dutifully did problem sets, drew cartoons of lanterns on trains and train platforms, of twins on planets and spaceships, derived the equations for time dilation and length contraction. Grumbling and chuckling the whole time about the absurdity of the entire exercise. As we tapered into finals week, the professor took a breather from lecturing by showing us a film. This was one of those 1950s era educational films, with Brylcreamed, horned-rimmed white guys sporting lab coats and pock...

I was a tween/teen sci fi nerd. Having devoured John Christopher's post-apocolyptic "The White Mountains" trilogy, I went on to his "Prince in Waiting" trilogy. In which "before times" technology was held close by the powerful, only to be wielded in rituals to convince the masses into compliance. I thought, "Wait, all this Bible stuff? Couldn't it really be just smoke and mirrors?" I went ahead with confirmation because that was what one did. But in true teenage rebellion, I then immediately declared I was an atheist. Within a couple years, I figured out that "There is no God" is unacceptably arrogant, and settled into being an agnostic -- "What the hell do I know?" I was comfortable calling myself agnostic for 40-ish years. But as a scientist, I was never happy with "What the hell do I know?" So, I was a seeker. Wandering is the wilderness. For 40-ish years. How biblical. (c) Carol VanZoeren 2023

 So people have been curious how a Lutheran kid who repelled confirmation by becoming an atheist found my way back to faith. It's a long story. That I can't just tell in one sitting. So I figured old-school "blog your book" was the best fit. I'll try to be a chronological as I can. But it'll jumble up. As life always does. Carol (c) Carol VanZoeren 2023