Arvid Reuterdahl (February 15, 1876 – January 13, 1933) was a Swedish-American engineer, scientist and educator.

Biography

Reuterdahl was born at

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitan ...

on February 15, 1876.''The National Cyclopædia of American Biography''
New York: James T. White & Company, 1927. pp. 468-469 He moved to the United States as a child in 1882. He graduated Sc.B. from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1897 and was a mathematics and physics instructor at the Technical High School in Providence. Reuterdahl worked as an engineer in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

for five years and as an assistant city engineer, water commissioner and President of the board of public works. He designed bridges for the city. He was a consulting engineer in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

(1910–1913) and

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

(1913–1918). He was a professor of theoretical and applied mechanics at Kansas City Polytechnic Institute (1915–1918) and was the first Dean of the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the

College of St. Thomas The University of St. Thomas (also known as UST or simply St. Thomas) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university with campuses in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Fo ...

(1918–1922). He was President of the Ramsey Institute of Technology,

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

(1922-1926). He was a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. He married Elinor Morrison on June 16, 1902. They had one son, Norman Morrison Reuterdahl.

Opposition to the theory of relativity

Reuterdahl was a noted opponent of Albert Einstein's

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical ph ...

.Wazeck, Milena. (2014). ''Einstein's Opponents: The Public Controversy about the Theory of Relativity in the 1920s''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 171-173. He considered Einstein's theory to be largely "bunk" and accused him of plagiarism. Reuterdahl argued that Einstein's theory of relativity was plagiarized from a mechanical gravitation theory of Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson (pseudonym Kinertia). He argued that Stevenson's papers were sent to the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences () was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer. In the 18th century, when Frenc ...

in 1903 and that Einstein, a member of the Academy secretly made use of the papers. Reuterdahl communicated with other anti-relativists such as

Ernst Gehrcke Ernst J. L. Gehrcke (1 July 1878 in Berlin – 25 January 1960 in Hohen-Neuendorf) was a German experimental physicist. He was director of the optical department at the Reich Physical and Technical Institute. Concurrently, he was a professor at the ...

.Rowe, David E. (2018). ''A Richer Picture of Mathematics: The Göttingen Tradition and Beyond''. Springer. p. 260. He was the science editor for

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

's journal the ''

Dearborn Independent ''The Dearborn Independent'', also known as ''The Ford International Weekly'', was a weekly newspaper established in 1901, and published by Henry Ford from 1919 through 1927. At its height during the mid-1920s it claimed a circulation of between ...

''.

Selected publications

*''Scientific Theism Versus Materialism: The Space-time Potential'' (1920) *''Einstein and the New Science'' (1921)
''"Kinertia" Versus Einstein''
(1921) *''A Synthesis of Number, Space-Time and Energy'' (1923)
''The God of Science''
(1928)
''Einsteinism: Its Fallacies and Frauds''
(1931)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reuterdahl, Arvid 1876 births 1933 deaths 20th-century American engineers Brown University alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science People from Karlstad Relativity critics Swedish emigrants to the United States University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) faculty