Mark Robinson is the Executive Officer of the academy.
Second email: 3 February 2024
Dear Mr. Mark Robinson,
Indeed, “Congratulations for all your faithful years of leadership of one of the country’s finest institutions.” And, thank you for your refreshing openness and accessibility.
Back on June 10, 2023, I sent a note to you about the haughtiness of those academics defending the big bang theory. Of course, while Stephen Hawking was alive, most of us were gracious. I think now with the results of the James Webb Space Telescope still building a stronger and stronger case for an alternative, that Hawking would be leading the charge for a new physics.
Has the nation’s oldest intellectual force ever sent a note to its membership making a request for more openness? That would be a good story and the nation might learn a little humility. Thank you.
Most sincerely,
Bruce
PS. I’m 76 years old and to remember where I was and the thrust of my work and notes to scholars, I keep a little public record. So, to limit more my notes to busy people like you, it is a handy reference. For our American Academy it is here: https://81018.com/amacad/ BEC
PPS. Back in 1973 through 1980 I was a graduate student (BU STH & BU GRS) and through the Boston Theological Institute, I took several courses at Harvard’s Divinity (with Krister Stendahl, Arthur McGill, and Gordon Kaufman. There were many times I would retreat to the woods that became your campus. My grandparents lived on Kirkland and worked for the Episcopal Theological School as housekeepers and custodians. As kids we played around the Quonset huts on Kirkland Place (later to become the William James Building) and in the woods of the Sachs estate among the spirits of the originals to that property.
First email: June 8, 2023 (Small re-write June 10, 2023)
Dear Mr. Mark Robinson,
Do we have the courage to say, “We may have been wrong for over forty years, yet and no matter what the consequences, it’s better to open serious explorations of other models.”
I am, of course, referring to the stir of anxiety about the completeness of the big bang cosmology. Throughout most of the 20th century, it was a theory. Yet, in the 1980’s there was an ever-increasing confidence that it was the only possible model. There have been plenty of dissidents over the years, but while Stephen Hawking was alive, they were easily ignored or pushed back with a most-condescending attitude.
Now, with the results of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the earlier questions about smoothness are being more seriously studied. Other key questions are also being opened and re-opened. It is becoming increasingly clear that credible new models are needed.
My request is that the historic American Academy through their historical and substantial weight request our academic institutions and scholarly research groups at least to be open to consider new models. That’s it!
Possible? If so, is there a formal process to make such an appeal or is this enough? Thank you.
Most sincerely,
Bruce
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