KARACHI, March 12: An exhibition of research papers of Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman will start on Monday at the National Museum to commemorate the 65th death anniversary of the great Muslim scientist.
The collection of papers, which will remain on display till March 21, includes the original theories of “New Relativity” and “Rotational Theory of Light” presented by Sir Sulaiman in British India.
Sir Sulaiman was critical of the postulate of relativity as formulated by Einstein, and he thought that by modifying Newton’s theory to some extent, the results which were observed, could be deduced according to his own ideas.
In the field of quantum mechanics, Sir Shah Sulaiman proposed that light was not a rare phenomenon but was a particle consisting of two parts, negative and positive. According to him, both parts revolved around each other while moving forward.
He called it the “Rotational Theory of Light” and claimed that with this assumption, he could prove all the laws of light.
By the application of the principle of retarded potential to Newton’s Laws, he had deducted an equation, which was identical to that of Einstein’s.
Accordingly, he obtained the same value for rotation of the orbit of Mercury as Einstein had done, which the Newtonian theory was wholly unable to account for. But in the case of a high velocity, like that of light, his equation differed from Einstein’s.
Confident to the soundness of his theory, Sir Sulaiman predicted before the solar eclipse of June 19, 1936 that in these two cases, the values would be in excess of Einstein’s.
The results of the observation made by a Russian observer at the time of 1936 eclipse supported the theory of Sir Shah Sulaiman.
The then, Government of India financed an expedition led by Dr T Royds of Dodikanal to Japan to observe total solar eclipse of that year.
Dr Royds observations were announced in July, 1937. It was a remarkable confirmation of Sir Shah Sulaiman’s prediction that the extent of spectral shift of light from the edge of
the Sun was actually found to be just double of Einstein’s value.
Sir Sulaiman’s theory is now gradually obtaining recognition even from orthodox quarters and is considered to be an outstanding contribution towards advancement of scientific knowledge.—APP