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Cosmology in America but also in Germany, an attempt was made to replace petrol engines by the mercury vapour engines in the aeroplanes. The translation of Sürya Prajñapti a standard Jain work on astronomy, into the German language has elicited high admiration in the West.
We draw the attention of the scientists towards the following facts particularly :
(i) Jains assert that the size of the universe is fixed (343 cu. rajjus).
The red shift of the spectral lines must be attributed to some other
cause, not to the expansion of the universe*. (ii) Ether, the medium of motion, cannot be eliminated out of the
scheme of the universe. It is a non-material medium and all attempts to associate physical properties with it are bound to
fail. (iii) Ether is the seat of a stationary system of waves (iv) The field or the medium of rest, through which the forces of
gravitation and electromagnetism operate, is quite a separate reality, non-active and non-material. Its functions cannot be
usurped by the Space. (u) Space without matter and time does not mean void. Space is a
substance and a reality in itself in which the property of expansion
inheres. (vi) Space and time form a mixed continuum and this four-dimen
sional continuum forms a finite universe beyond which no particle of matter or energy can travel on account of the absence of ether, but beyond this finite universe there is an infinite extension of
pure mathematical space. (vii) The postulate that the space becomes warped in the presence of
matter is unnecessary at least in the explanation of a finite
universe. (viii) According to the Jain view, even the modern atom is a molecule
(skandha) and Raman effect would be discovered in the atoms
also some day. (ix) According to the laws of union of the elementary grains of energy
mesotrons, positive and negative, of different masses are possible. Many more such ideas will be found dispersed in the main text and in Jain literature in general. For instance, it is mentioned in the Gommatsār that the shape of a parmāņu is hexagonal.† A free parmāņu can travel with a maximum velocity of 14 rajjus per samaya (the unit of time) i.e. it can
• Zwicky has already given an alternative explanation. According to him when light passes a large mass such as a star, not only is it deflected but it also deflects the mass to a small extent. Thus it loses energy. According to quantum theory, this means a diminution in the wave-length i.e., light looks redder or the spectral lines are shifted towards the red.
† It should be remembered that no one has yet seen the atom with eyes. The best microscopes fail in this respect. The atom models proposed by the scientists are as much like an atomi as a railway map is like the actual railway it represents.
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