Paul Marmet

Paul Marmet OC FRSC
President of the Canadian Association of Physicists
In office 1981–1982
Preceded by	Cecil Costain
Succeeded by	A.R. Crawford
Personal details
Born	(1932-05-20)20 May 1932 Lévis, Quebec, Canada
Died	20 May 2005(2005-05-20) (aged 73) Ottawa, Ontario

Paul Marmet
Alma mater	Université Laval
Known for	Low-energy Monoenergetic Electron Spectrometer
Spouse	Jacqueline Marmet
Children	Dr. Louis Marmet
Awards	Officer, Order of Canada, 1981 Service Award, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 1977 Léo-Pariseau Prize of the French Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science (ACFAS), 1976 Herzberg Medal of the Canadian Association of Physicists, 1971
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	Professor of Physics, Université Laval Director, Laboratory for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Université Laval Senior Researcher, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council (Canada) Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Ottawa
Academic advisors	Larkin Kerwin

Paul Marmet, OC FRSC (20 May 1932 – 20 May 2005) was a Canadian physicist, inventor, author, and professor at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada, who served as the President of the Canadian Association of Physicists.

Marmet is notable for developing a novel high-resolution electron velocity selector, a scientific instrument which became widely used by scientists around the world.

Inventions

Early in his career, Marmet developed a high-resolution electron selector with his mentor Larkin Kerwin, a scientific instrument for studying ionic electronic states.

Along with a mass spectrometer Marmet developed, the novel instrument had an energy resolution superior to then-available instruments and has been used widely by scientists studying electron scattering, which led to the discovery of enhanced vibrational excitation in nitrogen and of Feshbach resonances.

Research

Using the Marmet-Kerwin electron selector, Marmet and his research group discovered atomic and molecular states excited by electron impact but not by photons, such as doubly excited states that disobey spectroscopic selection rules. The group also found negative-ion resonances in which the incident electron temporarily attaches to the target molecule.

Career

After receiving his physics BSc in 1956 and DSc in 1960 from Laval University and entering the Physics faculty as an assistant professor at his alma mater school in 1961, Marmet became a full professor in 1967 at age 34.

Starting in 1967, he was director of the Laboratory for Atomic and Molecular Physics at Laval University, serving until 1982.

Between 1981 and 1982, Marmet served as President of the Canadian Association of Physicists.

From 1983 to 1990, he was a senior researcher at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics of the National Research Council Canada in Ottawa. While there, Marmet helped the University of Ottawa modernize its Physics education program.

In addition to the prominent role he played in developing the Canadian Space Program, Paul Marmet also served on the executive committee of the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada (now the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission).

Opposition to quantum mechanics, relativity, and the Big Bang

In his later years, Marmet became an outspoken critic of the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, the theory of relativity, and the Big Bang cosmological model. He maintained a website devoted to his view.

Marmet was one of 34 signers of An Open Letter to the Scientific Community advocating against the Big Bang cosmology.

He also held an opposing view on cosmological redshift and advocated tired light cosmology.

Reaction

Marmet's dissent about theoretical physics triggered a draconian reaction from the Canadian government, which immediately canceled all of his research grants, although they were not in theoretical but experimental physics.

The attack was followed by a reaction from the University of Ottawa administration, which forced Marmet to retire and even evicted him from his office.

Activism

In addition to his activities as a member of the first Associate Committee on Astronomy of the National Research Council since 1971 and his playing a crucial role in negotiations for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Marmet was also promoting the development of Quebec's first astronomical research telescope.

Bibliography

Paul Marmet published more than 100 original research papers and numerous books, websites, and animated demonstrations for the teaching of Physics.

• Absurdities in Modern Physics – book (free eBook)
• Einstein's theory of relativity versus classical mechanics - book

The aim of this book is to demonstrate that using "Conventional Wisdom" and "Conventional Logic", classical physics can explain all the observed phenomena attributed to relativity. The arbitrary principles of Einstein's relativity are thus useless. It is very important to recognize the fundamental importance of the principle of mass-energy conservation. It took thousands of years of development for scientific thought to finally reject the magic of witchcraft. During the nineteenth century, scientists became convinced that matter cannot be created from nothing. Conversely, matter cannot be destroyed into nothing. It seems that even Einstein believed this, since he is the one who, at the beginning of the twentieth century, introduced the equation E = mc² implying mass-energy conservation. However, he later developed general relativity which is not compatible with that principle. Indeed, according to Straumann, the: "general conservation law of energy and momentum does not exist in general relativity". Twentieth century science moved backward in accepting again the magical creation of matter or energy from nothing, even if this is hidden in complicated mathematics. Contrary to what Einstein did, all the demonstrations in this book are compatible with the principle of mass-energy and momentum conservation.
— P. Marmet (1997) Einstein's theory of relativity versus classical mechanics., OCLC

Honours

• Member of the Order of Canada (CO), 1981
• Service Award, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 1977
• Léo-Pariseau Prize of the French Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science (ACFAS), 1976
• Herzberg Medal of the Canadian Association of Physicists, 1971