Freedom of Science

We know that Britannica has been perpetuating the physics mythology that Cavendish measured G. Here’s the prominent journal Nature, repeating the same Newtonian mythology.

In this article published in 2003 physicist C. D. Hoyle writes that¹

In 1798, Henry Cavendish used a torsion balance which he had inherited from the Rev. John Michell, to determine the gravitational constant, G. Now Long et al. have devised a high-frequency resonator to explore the gravitational interaction on previously unexplored scales. Neither Cavendish nor Long et al. found any deviation from Newton’s universal law of gravitation…

Let’s count the errors in this unabashed Newtonian propaganda:

Cavendish used a torsion balance he had inherited from the Rev. John Michell….

Cavendish’s pendulum had three components: 1) the wooden arm; 2) the copper wire; 3) the lead weights.

Cavendish had a new wooden arm made because what he inherited was warped. Cavendish bought a new copper wire. Cavendish cast his own lead weights because he thought Michell’s was too small.

Does it still make sense to say that Cavendish used a pendulum he had inherited from Michell? No. Only in physics this makes sense. The author doesn’t know anything about the experiment except physics mythology attached to it. He never read Cavendish’s paper. He never studied the experiment. So he drops Michell’s name as if this has any relevance in the experiment.

Cavendish used a torsion pendulum to determine the gravitational constant, G.

Cavendish did nothing of the sort. The gravitational constant G was invented 84 years after Cavendish died. It is a fundamental law of nature that dead men cannot measure gravitational constants.

Neither Cavendish nor Long et al. found any deviation from Newton’s universal law of gravitation….

This is anachronism. Cavendish was not looking for any deviation from Newtonian force. Cavendish assumed Newton’s force. He never measured it. Cavendish’s pendulum never moved under the influence of the Newtonian occult. So far Doctors of Physics were not able to corrupt pendulums to make them oscillate to save Newton’s authority.

1. Continuing his assault on history Hoyle later writes: And we have recently passed the two-century mark since Henry Cavendish made his first measurement of the gravitational constant, G, which sets the fundamental strenght of the interaction. [↩]

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