Preliminary Note on the Masses of the Electron, the Proton, and the Universe

Abstract

In an investigation which I hope to publish shortly, I think I have been able to improve my theory of the constanthc/2πe2and to bring it at last into a precise form. No alteration is made in the value 137 obtained in the work already published. The recent advance has been mainly due to the fresh light thrown on the foundations of wave-mechanics by Dr Dirac's book. With a fuller understanding of the “theory of 137” it has been possible to discern opportunities for extension in several directions, and it is with these developments that the present paper deals. They are still in a rudimentary state; but since the theory appears to give correctly either accurate or approximate values of the masses of the electron, the helium atom, and the cosmos in terms of the mass of the proton, it would seem to be on the right lines. Moreover the principle of “ignoration of degrees of freedom” on which the numerical predictions depend is strongly suggested by the theory of the constant 137. If my view is right the only arbitrary constant of nature is the number of particles in the universe—if the numberisarbitrary.