Paul S. Wesson
Paul S. Wesson, B.Sc., Ph.D., D.Sc., F.R.A.S was a professor of astrophysics and theoretical physics. He was educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge in England, and spent most of his career at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He also spent sabbatical leaves at Berkeley and Stanford in California, and was associated in his later years with the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, Canada. He supervised numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and served as Science Director of the California Institute for Physics and Astronomy. His scientific interests were broad, ranging from a seismic survey of Afghanistan to guest lectures and media interviews on the Big Bang in America. He published over 300 works including nine textbooks and three science-fiction novels. Most of his articles appeared in the standard journals for astronomy and theoretical physics, but he also wrote pieces for New Scientist and other magazines of popular science. In later years, he characterized his research as concentrating on two subjects:
The intensity of background light between galaxies depends on their luminosity and age, versus the redshift effect and the expansion of the universe. It is possible to use observations and a mathematical model to determine various astrophysical quantities, including the age of the universe and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. This approach also resolves the notorious problem of why the night sky is so dark, or Olbers' paradox.
The general theory of relativity due to Einstein can be extended from four to five dimensions, where the extra dimension measures mass. This kind of 5D theory, a modified Kaluza–Klein theory, avoids problems of older versions, and has gained a considerable following as a means of accounting for matter. A major discovery is that while the universe may have a big-bang singularity in 4D, it is smooth in 5D.
Besides the above-outlined subjects, Wesson also had interests in geophysics, bioastronomy and the philosophy of science.
Paul also had a great love and appreciation for the British Sci-Fi show Doctor Who.Science Books
- Weaving the Universe , 2011, World Scientific, Singapore, 222 pp.
- The Light/Dark Universe , 2008, World Scientific, Singapore, 225 pp.
- Five-Dimensional Physics, 2006, World Scientific, Singapore, 222 pp.
- Brave New Universe, 2006, Joseph Henry Press, Washington, 264 pp.
- Dark Sky, Dark Matter, 2003, Institute of Physics, London, 216 pp.
- Space-Time-Matter, 1999, World Scientific, Singapore, 209 pp.
- Gravitation - A Banff Summer Institute, 1991. World Scientific, Singapore, 650 pp.
- Gravity, Particles, and Astrophysics, 1980, Reidel, Dordrecht, 188 pp.
- Cosmology and Geophysics'', 1978, Oxford University Press/Hilger, New York, 240 pp.
