Editing Tom Van Flandern (section)

== Non-mainstream science and beliefs ==
Van Flandern described in his 1993 book ''Dark Matter, Missing Planets, New Comets''<ref>"Dark Matter, Missing Planets, New Comets", Van Flandern (1993)</ref> how he had become increasingly dissatisfied with the mainstream views of science by the early 1980s. He wrote:

::"Events in my life caused me to start questioning my goals and the correctness of everything I had learned. In matters of religion, medicine, biology, physics, and other fields, I came to discover that reality differed seriously from what I had been taught."

In his book, on blogs, lectures, newsletters, and websites, Van Flandern focused on [[List of unsolved problems in physics|problems in cosmology and physics]]. He alleged that when experimental evidence is incompatible with mainstream scientific theories, mainstream scientists refuse to acknowledge this to avoid jeopardizing their funding.<ref name="aas" />

=== Exploding planets ===
In 1976, while Van Flandern worked for the USNO, he began to promote the belief that [[Fifth planet (hypothetical)#Disruption theory|major planets sometimes explode]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://metaresearch.org/solar%20system/eph/eph2000.asp |title=The Exploded Planet Hypothesis - 2000 |accessdate=2013-06-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407233124/http://metaresearch.org/solar%20system/eph/eph2000.asp |archivedate=2013-04-07 }} According to Van Flandern's article on the Exploded Planet Hypothesis: "The third planetary explosion mechanism relies on one other hypothesis not yet widely accepted, but holds out the potential for an indefinitely large reservoir of energy for exploding even massive planets and stars. If gravitational fields are continually regenerated, as in LeSage particle models of gravity [xvi], then all masses are continually absorbing energy from this universal flux."</ref> Van Flandern also speculated that the origin of the human species may well have been on the planet Mars, which he believed was once a moon of a now-exploded "[[Phaeton (hypothetical planet)|Planet V]]".

=== Le Sage's theory of gravitation and the speed of gravity ===
Van Flandern supported [[Georges-Louis Le Sage]]'s [[Le Sage's theory of gravitation|theory of gravitation]], according to which gravity is the result of a flux of invisible "ultra-mundane corpuscles" impinging on all objects from all directions at superluminal speeds. He gave public lectures in which he claimed that these particles could be used as a limitless source of free energy and to provide superluminal propulsion for spacecraft.<ref>{{Cite journal| author = Jeffery D. Kooistra |title = Conference on Future Energy |journal=[[Magazine (magazine)|Magazine]] |issue= 26 | date = July–August 1999}} An editor gave a summary of Van Flandern's talk at the Infinite Energy conference and wrote "Van Flandern gave a talk entitled 'On a Complete Theory of Gravity and Free Energy'. For the free energy enthusiast, the implications of gravity being particulate and perhaps blockable are obvious. Block or deflect the c-gravitons raining down from the sky and up you go into space. Turn off the blocking shield and recover the energy you've gained, for free, as you fall back to Earth."</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51aJobWkrig | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131201005/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51aJobWkrig| archive-date=2014-01-31 | url-status=dead|title = Dr. Thomas Van Flandern – MUFON-LA (1 of 1) | publisher = youtube}}</ref>

In 1998 Van Flandern wrote a paper<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1016/S0375-9601(98)00650-1 | title = The speed of gravity ? What the experiments say | date = 1998 | last1 = Van Flandern | first1 = T | journal = [[Physics Letters A]] | volume = 250| issue = 1–3 | pages = 1–11|bibcode = 1998PhLA..250....1V }}</ref> asserting that astronomical observations imply that gravity propagates at least twenty billion times faster than light, or even infinitely fast. [[Gerald E. Marsh]], Charles Nissim-Sabat and [[Steve Carlip]] demonstrated that Van Flandern's argument was fallacious.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi =10.1016/S0375-9601(99)00675-1 | title =Comment on "The speed of gravity" | date =1999 | last1 =Marsh | first1 =Gerald E | last2 =Nissim-Sabat | first2 =Charles | journal =Physics Letters A | volume =262| issue =2–3 | pages =257|bibcode = 1999PhLA..262..257M | url =https://zenodo.org/record/1260033 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| last1 =Carlip | first1 =S | title=Aberration and the Speed of Gravity | journal= Phys. Lett. A | date=2000 | volume=267| issue =2–3 | pages=81–87 | arxiv= gr-qc/9909087 | doi=10.1016/S0375-9601(00)00101-8 |bibcode = 2000PhLA..267...81C | s2cid =12941280 }}</ref>

=== Face on Mars ===
Van Flandern was a prominent advocate of the belief that certain geological features seen on Mars, especially the "[[Cydonia face|face at Cydonia]]", are not of natural origin but were produced by intelligent extraterrestrial life, probably the inhabitants of a major planet once located where the asteroid belt presently exists, and which Van Flandern believed had exploded 3.2 million years ago.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metaresearch.org/solar%20system/cydonia/proof_files/proof.asp |title=Proof that the Cydonia Face on Mars is Artificial |publisher=Metaresearch.org |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20021123170349/http://www.metaresearch.org/solar%20system/cydonia/proof_files/proof.asp |archivedate=2002-11-23 }}</ref> The claimed artificiality of the "face" was also the topic of a chapter of his 1993 book.<ref name="Flandern1998">{{cite book|author=Tom Van Flandern|title=Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets: Paradoxes Resolved, Origins Illuminated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fq8trtkOvMEC&pg=PA417|date=1993|publisher=[[North Atlantic Books]]|isbn=978-1-55643-268-2|location=chapter 24. New Evidence for Artificiality at Cydonia on Mars}}</ref>

=== Rejection of Big Bang cosmology ===
Van Flandern was a vocal opponent of the [[Big Bang]] model in cosmology and believed in a [[static universe]] instead. In 2008, he organized the "[[Hubble's law#Hubble tension|Crisis in Cosmology]]"; a conference of individuals who opposed the Big Bang cosmological models.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080911/NEWS/809110302|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122508/http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080911/NEWS/809110302|archive-date=2016-03-04|title=Scientists at Port Angeles conference huddle over alternatives to 'big bang' theory}}</ref><ref name="aas" />