Chronos said:
Nigel, your theories and conclusions may be entirely correct. But, being correct does not make you heard. If you alienate your audience, you will never be heard. Find a reputable sponsor and convince him/her you both agree. You can lead a scientist to water, but, you cannot make him/her drink... unless he/she believes it was his/her idea [scientists are very proud and stubborn]. That is the only practical way to inspire the next generation of scientists to test your theories. Just my opinion.
Thank you for your friendly words, I do not believe that you are setting out to be sarcastic, although if you read Galileo you find various telling remarks:
1. "In matters of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a sole individual."
2. Galileo to Kepler: ‘Here, at Padua, is the principal professor of philosophy, who I have repeatedly and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets through my glass, which he pertinaciously refuses to do!’
From Nature Editor Dr Philip Campbell’s 25 November 1996 letter to NC: ‘… we are not able to offer to publish… we have not communicated the contents of your paper to any person outside this office.’
When you have spent a decade trying to do this sort of thing, using and exhausting all the suggestions people give, you come to the conclusion that science is not a matter of logic but of authority figures.
We in 2004 are not in an exploratory age of enlightenment, unlike Galileo.
You find that while Galileo had problems with the "Dr Campbell" of his own time, he was able to make his voice heard because there simply wasn't the background of cranks trying to dismiss everything he said without reading it first!
In this day and age, the young scientist follows the lead of famous people, who I rightly or bluntly call "bigots" (= someone intolerant of a fellow human's right to free speech) and think they will become great leaders if they too try to ridicule people. So they prevent scientific discussion by throwing mud at genuine research which they haven't even read. I do not believe, having studied Galileo, that he would respond by giving up or seeking someone to hold his hand. If we want science, we have to defend it.