Selety, Franz

Born Dresden, Germany, 2 March 1893

Died Possibly 1933

An Austrian citizen, until 1918, Franz Selety was originally named Franz Josef Jeiteles. In the period 1917–1922, he was in contact with Albert Einstein, whose new theory of the universe, based on the general theory of relativity, he criticized in several papers. As an alternative, Selety proposed a Newtonian, hierarchical universe. The model attracted brief attention, but was not further developed. After 1924, no more was heard of either Selety or his cosmological model.

Having completed a high school education in Vienna, in 1911 Selety entered Vienna University to study philosophy, at the same time developing an interest in physics, mathematics, and cosmology. In 1915 he obtained his doctoral degree in philosophy, and 2 years later he wrote two long (but no longer extant) letters to Einstein, in which he explained his philosophical views and their relevance for cosmology. A paper on the structure of the universe that he published...