Curriculum Vitae of Andre Koch Torres Assis

Born: August 11, 1962, Juiz de Fora (Brazil).

Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree in Physics (State University of Campinas, Brazil, 1983).
  • Doctor's Degree (Ph.D.) in Physics (State University of Campinas, Brazil, 1987). PhD thesis: Dispersion relations in a bounded, magnetized and warm plasma. Thesis supervisor: Dr. P. H. Sakanaka.

 

Post-Doctoral positions:

  • University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. From February 2009 to May 2009. Humboldt Research Fellowship given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, from Germany. Project: "Weber’s planetary model of the atom."
  • University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. From August 2001 to November 2002. Humboldt Research Fellowship given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, from Germany. Project: "Weber's law applied to electromagnetism and gravitation."
  • Visiting Scholar at the Center for Electromagnetics Research, Northeastern University, Boston, USA. From October 1991 to September 1992. Fellowship given by FAPESP.
  • Culham Laboratory, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Oxfordshire, England. From February 1988 to January 1989. Fellowship given by CNPq.

 

Employment: From May 1989 to the present: Professor at the Department of Cosmic Rays and Cosmology,  Institute of Physics of the State University of Campinas, Brazil. Permanent address: Institute of Physics, State University of Campinas, 13083-970 Campinas - SP, Brazil.


E-mail: assis@ifi.unicamp.br
Homepage: http://www.ifi.unicamp.br/~assis

Telephone: (+55) (19) 35215515
Fax: (+55) (19) 35215512

Click here to see a list of the books we wrote and/or translated, some of them in PDF format.

Click here to see the papers we published, in PDF format.

Major research interests:

  • Relational mechanics, Mach's principle and the origin of inertia, absorption of gravity.
  • Weber's electrodynamics, Ampère's force between current elements, electric field outside stationary resistive wires carrying steady currents, propagation of electromagnetic signals.
  • Cosmology, Hubble's law of redshifts, cosmic background radiation, tired light, infinite universe in space and time.
  • History and philosophy of science, physics experiments with simple materials.

 

Click in the following link in order to see a video conference about Relational Mechanics (1 hour presentation plus 1 hour debate):

http://www.worldnpa.org/php2/index.php?tab0=Events&tab1=Display&id=240

In this presentation we discuss Galileo’s free fall experiment, Newton’s bucket experiment, the flattening of the Earth due to its diurnal rotation and Foucault’s pendulum experiment. In Newton’s bucket experiment we have a bucket partially filled with water hanging by a rope. When the bucket and the water are at rest relative to the ground the surface of the water is flat. When the bucket and the water rotate together relative to the ground, the surface of the water becomes concave (the water rises towards the sides of the bucket, acquiring a parabolic shape). It is shown that in Newtonian mechanics this curvature of the water surface is not due to its rotation relative to the bucket, relative to the Earth, nor relative to the distant stars and galaxies. To Newton this experiment proved the existence of empty and free space, which he called absolute space. The curvature of water should be due to its rotation to this absolute space. The criticisms of Berkeley, Leibniz and Mach against Newtonian mechanics are discussed. An emphasis is given in Mach's ideas according to which the inertia of any body is due to its gravitational interaction with the distant universe. It is shown that Einstein's theories of relativity do not implement Mach's principle. This is one of the reasons why we are against Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity. Finally it is presented Relational Mechanics, a theory which implements quantitatively Mach's ideas about the origin of inertia utilizing a Weber's law for gravitation. We discuss Galileo's free fall experiment, Newton's bucket experiment, the flattening of the Earth and Foucault’s pendulum experiment from the point of view of Relational Mechanics.

 

Countries visited to deliver lectures: India, Spain, England, Russia, France, Argentina, Colombia, Italy, Greece, Chile, Poland, Canada, Germany, USA.

Teaching experience at undergraduate and graduate levels:

  • Basic Physics (Halliday and Resnick, Sears, Tipler).
  • Mathematical Physics (Arfken, Butkov).
  • Classical Mechanics (Symon, Feynman, Goldstein).
  • Classical Electromagnetism (Reitz/Milford/Christy, Griffiths, Jackson).
  • Cosmology (Hubble, Sciama).
  • Relational Mechanics and Mach's Principle (Mach, Barbour, Assis).
  • Weber's Electrodynamics and Ampere's force between current elements (Weber, Maxwell, Graneau, Assis).


Courses of Weber's Electrodynamics, Relational Mechanics and Mach's Principle, Cosmology and History of Science taught at undergraduate and graduate levels at:
Abroad: Universidad Nacional del Comahue (Neuquen, Argentina); Universidad de Tarapaca (Arica, Chile).
In Brazil: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP, Campinas), Universidade de São Paulo (USP, São Paulo), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE, São José dos Campos), Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF, Juiz de Fora), Escola Técnica de Eletrônica Francisco Moreira da Costa (ETE, Santa Rita do Sapucaí), Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA, Salvador), Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM, Maringá).

Students and post-doctoral collaborators:

 

Our biography has been included by invitation in the following publications: The Contemporary Who's Who, Dictionary of International Biography, International Who's Who of Intellectuals, Men of Achievement, Who's Who in Science and Technology, Who's Who in the World, Outstanding People of the 20th Century, International Men of the Year.

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