The following is a paper by H. Aspden published in International Journal of Theoretical Physics, v. 16, pp. 401-404 (1977).
Abstract: A heuristic model for deriving the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron is presented. A term α/2π-0.327(α/π)2 is deduced, in better agreement with experiment than is the QED derivation of α/2π-0.328(α/π)2. The result is strengthened by the recent non-QED account of the Lamb shift by Yu and Sachs.
Commentary: Note that α is the fine structure constant, a dimensionless quantity having a numerical value slightly smaller than 1/137. In cgs units, where the dielectric constant of the vacuum is unity, α-1 is the formulation 2πe2/hc, where e is the charge of the electron in esu, c is the speed of light and h is Planck's constant. These three physical components are the properties which characterize the aether. To explain the physical basis which determines Planck's constant and its dimensionless embodiment in the fine structure constant, α, one must decipher the structure of the aether.
Apart from being confronted with Einstein's theory, the author had found that his efforts to interest scientists in a lattice-structured aether, which had the merit of allowing the theoretical derivation of the precise values of the most important of the fundamental physical constants, were scorned for other reasons. It was made very clear by referees that, where theoretical precision evaluation of basic dimensionless constants were concerned, the only way forward was by the use of QED. Quantum electrodynamics had given account of the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and the Lamb shift. Why these second-order effects should preclude the author from developing an independent first-order theory for the proton-electron mass ratio or the fine structure constant really was beyond comprehension. Accordingly, the author was motivated to probe the domain of QED just as he had felt obliged to develop a defence on the Einstein front. However, one finds that, whereas the general theory of relativity and the derivation of its key results is the subject of a single chapter in an advanced physics textbook, QED is not so accommodating.
Very few physicists reading this text will know how to calculate the higher-order terms involved in QED calculations. Whereas QED introduces a concept of renormalization to avoid infinities and point charges, this author begins with a finite spherical charge form and introduces a field cut-off boundary at a distance determined by a standing wave system. In this way, the author believes that he has discovered a classical approximation to the statistical field activity involved in QED. It is simple and sufficiently 'approximate' to provide in a few pages of analysis a result at least as good as any that have a fully detailed worked solution presented in print, whether in books or scientific papers. Indeed, you will have very great difficulty if you try to find any publication containing a truly comprehensive analysis that you can verify yourself in working through the document. Invariably, with QED, apart from the very approximate preliminary terms one finds a recital of numerous Feynman diagrams which one has to take on trust as having the solutions as listed.
The author does not seek to have his theory replace QED, but he does challenge those who understand QED to find a way of deriving the fine structure constant and the proton-electron mass ratio. He is convinced that these two quantities are so basic that they cannot depend upon the spurious auxiliary statistical activity of a lepton field. They are fixed by structural constraints, even though they exist in such a field background. This statement is backed by evidence of their derivation given in the papers already referenced [1972a] and [1975a]. Accordingly, the author confronts those who understand QED with the fact that the aether based theory has already provided us with sufficiently perfect derivations of these dimensionless quantities, backed by comprehensive qualitative reasoning. He well knows that much as they may extend QED techniques and philosophy into the higher domain of QCD, quantum chromodynamics, they are hopelessly lost in a maze of computation.
The paper [1975a], abstracted in these Web pages, presented the aether theory evaluation of the proton-electron mass ratio and this author's company location, as stated on that paper was that of an IBM laboratory. It is appropriate, with this IBM connection, therefore, to refer to the rival 1985 IEEE Computer Society paper by Beetem, Denneau and Weingarten, of the IBM Watson Research Center, on the 'GF11 Supercomputer'. Quoting from that paper:
"GF11 is a parallel computer conceived primarily for the numerical solution of problems in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), a proposed theory of the class of particles which participate in nuclear interactions. A typical calculation in QCD, for example an evaluation of the masses of the proton, neutron and a few related particles, is estimated to require as many as 3x1017 arithmetic operations. With a 100 MFLOP machine (such as Cray 1) this calculation would take 100 years. By a parallel application of its 576 processors, GF11 is capable of 11.5 GFLOPS peak and about 10 GFLOPS sustained performance for QCD. The mass calculation can be completed in about 1 year."
This author has not heard that the IBM GF11 computer mentioned in this 1985 paper has completed its duty cycle and found the expected answer, nor whether the precision of the overall calculation has come within sight of overtaking the precision reached in 1975 by the author's aether theory. However, the author does know that those who research QCD theory are hostile to the very simple methods adopted with success by this author and suspects that that hostility is not founded in a spirit of true science, but has other motivation.