Abstract
IN a recent paper, a detailed analytical theory of time-keeping has been developed on an axiomatic basis1. Starting from the existence of a temporal sequence for events at any given observer and the existence of a ‘substratum of equivalent observers’, it has been found that amongst all possible graduations of the clocks of a substratum two families stand out with special properties, namely, the family τ, according to which the substratum is described by each of its members as static, and the family t, according to which it is described as uniformally expanding from a point origin. By deriving the equation of motion of a free particle, it has been found that if we identify the smoothed-out universe of extra-galactic nebulæ with a substratum, then the uniform time of dynamics is to be identified with τ-time2, which gives an infinite ‘age’ to the universe, whereas the uniform time of optics and atomic vibrators is to be identified with a t-time3, which gives 2 ×109 years as the ‘age of the universe’.
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WHITROW, G. Kinematical Relativity and the Geological Time-Scale. Nature 144, 706 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144706a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144706a0
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