This is an interesting theory, and the first time I've heard of Heim's theory. Reading about it, it appears science isn't the reason for his theory
being so controversial; character is. All the criticism of Heim seems based on three factors.
1. He believed in spirituality and his later works delved into alternate paranormal realities. This criticism is based on his non-technical writings,
though. His technical writings, such as a paper on quantum field theory, did not display this at all.
2. He did not use conventional terms and annotations, and his theory was only published in German, not English. On top of that, he apparently chose a
dubious source to be published in, rather than a more main stream and widely accepted publication. Due to all these factors, his theory is rather
difficult to understand. The theory itself is very complex, so the criticism is that, because of those factors, the theory could have major flaws that
are hard to detect. Apparently this means it shouldn't be tested.
3. He worked alone and was not associated with a University.
I hope this theory gets at least some scientific scrutiny, as those reasons (outlined in more detail on
Wikipedia) seem more political than scientific. It deserves to at least be tested, and according
to that article in the Scotsman, it sounds like it's about to be. It'll be really amazing if it does hold up and the USAF starts doing tests on
propulsion systems.
mbkennel, I didn't understand:
What is the chance that one discarded theory from the 1950's---well string theory and even quarks---and undoubtedly far outside the mainstream
of physics is correct?