An exhibition of the research papers of Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman will start on Monday at the National Museum to commemorate 65th death anniversary of the great Muslim scientist.
The collection of papers, which will remain on display till March 21, includes original theories of "New Relativity" and "Rotational Theory of Light" presented by Sir Sulaiman in the British India.
Sir Shah Sulaiman was critical of the postulate of relativity as formulated by Einstein and he thought that by modifying Newton's theory to some extent, the results which were observed, could be deduced according to his own ideas.
He also proposed that the effect of gravitation does not spread with infinite velocity as proposed by Newton but with finite velocity nearer to the velocity of light.
In the field of quantum mechanics, Sir Shah Sulaiman proposed that light was not a rare phenomenon but was particle consisting of two parts, negative and positive.
According to him, both the parts revolved around each other while moving forward. He called it "Rotational Theory of Light" and claimed that with that assumption he could prove all the laws of light.
Sir Shah Sulaiman pointed out there was no reason why the velocity of gravitation should be infinite. Starting with a finite velocity, he had shown the Newtonian equations would require a slight correction on account of the motion of the source.
By the application of the principle of retarded potential to Newton's Laws he had deducted an equation, which was identical to that of Einstein's.
Accordingly, he obtained the same value for rotation of the orbit of Mercury as Einstein had done, which the Newtonian theory was wholly unable to account for.
But in the case of a high velocity, like that of light, his equation differed from Einstein's.
Confident to the soundness of his theory, Sir Shah Sulaiman predicted before the solar eclipse of June 19, 1936 that in those two cases the values would be in excess of Einstein's.
Light rays coming from display stars, which happen to be just behind the edges of the sun at the time of a solar eclipse are attracted by the Sun and, therefore, slightly bend towards it as compared to their straight paths six months later when the Sun does not intervene between the stars and the Earth.
Einstein's value for such bending of light was just double of that under the Newton's law. Sir Shah Sulaiman's value was even 30 per cent more than Einstein's.
Observations made at some previous eclipse had shown an excess over Einstein's value, which in the absence of any other theory was attributed to the errors of observation.
The results of the observation made by Russian observer at the time of 1936 eclipse supported the theory of Sir Shah Sulaiman.
The then Government of India financed an expedition led by Dr T Royds of Dodikanal to Japan to observe total solar eclipse of that year.
Dr Royds' observations were announced in July 1937. It was a remarkable confirmation of Sir Shah Sulaiman's prediction that the extent of spectral shift of light from the edge of the Sun was actually found to be just double of Einstein's value.
Sir Shah Sulaiman's theory is now gradually obtaining recognition even from orthodox quarters and is considered to be an outstanding contribution towards the advancement of scientific knowledge.