Victor J. Stenger

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Victor J. Stenger (born January 29, 1935) is an American physicist, and an advocate of philosophical naturalism, skepticism, and atheism. Active for many years in particle physics research, he is now mainly known as a critic of intelligent design and the aggressive use of the anthropic principle. He maintains that consciousness and free will, assuming that they in fact exist, will eventually be explained scientifically without invoking either the mystical or the supernatural.

Since 1988, Stenger has published seven books for general audiences on physics, quantum mechanics, cosmology, philosophy, religion, and pseudoscience.

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[edit] Work and career

Stenger spent his youth in Bayonne, New Jersey. In 1992, Stenger and Prometheus Books were sued by Uri Geller for $4 million claiming defamation for questioning his "psychic powers."[1] The suit was dismissed and Geller was ordered to pay court costs.[1]

[edit] University career

In 1956, Stenger received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Newark College of Engineering (now the New Jersey Institute of Technology). He then moved to Los Angeles on a Hughes Aircraft Company fellowship. At UCLA, he earned a Master of Science in 1958, and a Ph.D. in 1963, both in physics. His Ph.D. thesis, supervised by Harold K. Ticho, was titled Low Energy K+d Scattering and the I = 0 KN Interaction.

Stenger was a member of the Department of Physics at the University of Hawaii until his 2000 retirement. He has held visiting positions on the faculties of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Oxford University (twice), and has been a visiting researcher at Rutherford Laboratory[citation needed] in England, the National Nuclear Physics Laboratory in Frascati, Italy, and the University of Florence in Italy. He is currently an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Hawaii, and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is a fellow of CSICOP and a research fellow of the Center for Inquiry.

[edit] Research career

Stenger's research career has spanned the period of great progress in elementary particle physics that culminated in what is now called the standard model. He participated in experiments that helped establish the properties of strange particles, quarks, gluons, and neutrinos.[citation needed] He helped pioneer the emerging fields of very high-energy gamma ray and neutrino astronomy. In his last project before retiring, he collaborated on the Super-Kamiokande underground experiment in Japan that showed definitively that the neutrino has mass.[2]

[edit] Author and speaker

In recent years, Stenger's books and articles have been mostly written for the wider educated public. These writings explore the interfaces between physics and cosmology, and philosophy, religion, and pseudoscience. These include: Not By Design: The Origin of the Universe (1988); Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses (1990); The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology (1995); Timeless Reality: Symmetry, Simplicity, and Multiple Universes (2000); Has Science Found God? The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe (2003); and The Comprehensible Cosmos: Where Do the Laws of Physics Come from?. His most recent book, God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist, was published in 2007 and was number 21 on the New York Times bestseller list on March 11, 2007.

Stenger is also a noted public speaker, scheduled to speak at the "Origins Conference" hosted by the Skeptics Society at the California Institute of Technology alongside Nancey Murphy, and Leonard Susskind.[3]

[edit] Professional and community positions

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Uri Geller Libel Suit Dismissed". Skeptical Inquirer. August, 1994. http://www.csicop.org/articles/uri_dis.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-10. 
  2. ^ The Discovery Of Neutrino Oscillations
  3. ^ "Origins Conference October 3–4, 2008". Skeptics Society. 2008. http://origins.skeptic.com/speakers_Ross.php. Retrieved on 2008-10-10. 

[edit] Writings by Stenger

[edit] Books

  • 1988. Not by Design: The Origin of the Universe, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0879754516
  • 1990. Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses, Prometheus Books, ISBN 087975575X.
  • 1995. The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1573920223.
  • 2000. Timeless Reality: Symmetry, Simplicity, and Multiple Universes, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1573928593.
  • 2003. Has Science Found God? The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1591020182.
  • 2006. The Comprehensible Cosmos: Where Do The Laws Of Physics Come From?, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1591024242.
  • 2007. God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1591024811. New York Times bestseller.
  • 2009. Quantum Gods: Creation, Chaos and the Search for Cosmic Consciousness, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1591027136.

[edit] Articles in peer-reviewed journals

  • 1964 (with W. E. Slater et al.), "K-N Interactions in the I=0 State at Low Energies," Phys. Rev. 134, B1111. Publication of Stenger's Ph.D. thesis results.
  • 1984, "The Production of Very High Energy Photons and Neutrinos from Cosmic Proton Sources," Astrophys. J. 284, 810.
  • 1985, "Photinos from Cosmic Sources," Nature 317, 411.
  • 1986, "The Extraterrestrial Flux Sensitivity of Underground and Undersea Muon Detectors," Il Nuovo Cimento 9C, 479.
  • 1990, "The Universe: the ultimate free lunch," European Journal of Physics 11: 236-43.
  • 1999, "Bioenergetic Fields," The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, Vol. 3(1).
  • 2000, "Natural Explanations for the Anthropic Coincidences," Philo 3: 50-67.

[edit] Other publications

  • 1993, "The Myth of Quantum Consciousness," The Humanist 53(13).
  • 1996, "New Age Physics: Has Science Found the Path to the Ultimate?” Free Inquiry 16(3): 7-11.
  • 1996, "Cosmythology: Was the Universe Designed to Produce Us?" Skeptic 4(2): 36-40.
  • 1997, "Quantum Metaphysics.”" in Laurence Brown, Bernard C. Farr, and R. Joseph Hoffmann, eds., Modern Spiritualities. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books: 243-53. Also published in 1997, The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine 1(1): 26-30.
  • 1998/99, "Has Science Found God?" Free Inquiry 19(1): 56-58.
  • 1999, "Bioenergetic Fields.” The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine 3(1).
  • 1999, "The Anthropic Coincidences: A Natural Explanation," Skeptical Intelligencer 3(3): 2-17.
  • 1999, "Anthropic Design: Does the Cosmos Show Evidence of Purpose?" Skeptical Inquirer 23(4): 40-63.
  • 1999, "“Energy Medicine,”" (with David Ramey, DVM) in Alternate Therapies in the Horse. New York: Howell Book House: 55-66.
  • 2000, "The Pseudophysics of Therapeutic Touch" in Béla Scheiber and Carla Selby, eds., Therapeutic Touch. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books: 302-11.
  • 2001, "Humanity in Time and Space," Free Inquiry 21(2):42-69.
  • 2001, "Time's Arrows Point Both Ways: The View From Nowhen," Skeptic 8(4): 90-95.
  • 2001, "The God of Falling Bodies," Skeptical Inquirer 25(5): 46-49.
  • 2001, "The Breath of God: Identifying Spiritual Force" in Skeptical Odysseys, Paul Kurtz, ed. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books: 363-74.
  • 2003, "Anthropic Design: Does the Cosmos Show Evidence of Purpose?" in Kurtz, Paul, ed., Science and Religion: Are They Compatible? Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books: 47-49.
  • 2003, "The Premise Keepers," Free Inquiry 23(3).
  • 2004, "Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Us?" in Matt Young and Taner Edis, eds., Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press: 172-84.
  • 2005, "Flew's Flawed Science," Free Inquiry 25(2): 17-18.
  • 2006, "The Scientific Case Against a God Who Created the Universe" in Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier, eds., The Improbability of God. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books.
  • 2006, "Do Our Values Come from God? The Evidence Says No," Free Inquiry 26(5): 42-45.
  • 2007, "Physics, Cosmology, and the New Creationism" in Scientists Confront Creationism II. W.W. Norton.
  • "Is the Brain a Quantum Device?" Skeptical Briefs (March 2008).
  • 2008, "[Where Can God Act? The New Quantum Theology,]" Free Inquiry 28(5): 1-36.
  • "Reality" and "Clock Time." Entries for the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd ed. To be published by Macmillan Reference USA(Thomson Gale).
  • "Time, Arrow of," "Time, Asymmetry of," "Time, Operational Definition of," "Universe, Origin of," "Planck time," Time, Symmetry of," "Time, Units of." Entries for The Encyclopedia of Time to be published by Sage Publications.

[edit] Columnist

Since 1998, Stenger has written a regular column, called "Reality Check," for Skeptical Briefs, the quarterly newsletter of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).[1]

[edit] See also

The following persons either cite Stenger's work, or may be of interest to anyone curious about Stenger's ideas.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Physics and Psychics, the Paranormal

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_J._Stenger"
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