Jump to content

Victor J. Stenger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by GreenC bot (talk | contribs) at 19:22, 5 September 2018 (Remove 1 stray access-date. (GreenC bot job #5)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Victor J. Stenger
Victor J. Stenger in 2011
BornJanuary 29, 1935
Bayonne, New Jersey
DiedAugust 25, 2014(2014-08-25) (aged 79)
Hawaii
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma materNew Jersey Institute of Technology, UCLA
SpousePhylliss Marcia Stenger (m. 1962)[2]
ChildrenNoelle Green, Victor Andrew[1]
Scientific career
FieldsParticle physics, philosophy
Thesis Low Energy K+d Scattering and the I=0 KN Interaction[1]  (1963)
Doctoral advisorHarold K. Ticho

Victor John Stenger (/ˈstɛŋɡər/ January 29, 1935 – August 25, 2014) was an American particle physicist, philosopher, author, and religious skeptic.

Following a career as a research scientist in the field of particle physics, Stenger was associated with New Atheism and he also authored popular science books. He published twelve books for general audiences on physics, quantum mechanics, cosmology, philosophy, religion, atheism, and pseudoscience, including the 2007 best-seller God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist. His final book was God and the Multiverse: Humanity's Expanding View of the Cosmos (September 9, 2014). He was also a regular featured science columnist for the Huffington Post.[3]

He was an advocate for removing the influence of religion from scientific research, commercial activity, and the political decision process,[4] and he coined the phrase "Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings".[5]

Personal life

Victor J. Stenger was born on January 29, 1935 and raised in a working-class neighborhood of Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was a Lithuanian immigrant and his mother was the daughter of Hungarian immigrants.[2] He died in August 2014 at the age of 79.[6]

Career

Education and employment

Stenger attended public schools in Bayonne, New Jersey before going on to receive 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, where he earned a Master of Science from UCLA in 1958 and a Ph.D in 1963, both in physics.[7]

He then moved to Hawai'i, where he was a member of the Department of Physics at the University of Hawaii until his 2000 retirement. He held visiting positions on the faculties of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Oxford University (twice), and was a visiting researcher at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory[8] in England, the National Nuclear Physics Laboratory in Frascati, Italy, and the University of Florence in Italy.[9] He was also an Emeritus Professor of physics at the University of Hawaii, and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado.[10]

Scientist

Stenger's first peer-reviewed publication was in 1964, and his research career continued until his retirement in 2000. His research involved work that determined properties of gluons, quarks, strange particles, and neutrinos.[7] Stenger focused on neutrino astronomy and very high-energy gamma rays.

Philosopher and skeptic

Stenger was an advocate of philosophical naturalism, skepticism, and atheism. He was a prominent critic of intelligent design and the aggressive use of the anthropic principle. He maintained that if consciousness and free will do exist, they will eventually be explained in a scientific manner that invokes neither the mystical nor the supernatural. He repeatedly criticized those who invoke the perplexities of quantum mechanics in support of the paranormal, mysticism, or supernatural phenomena, and wrote several books and articles aiming to debunk contemporary pseudoscience.[11]

Stenger was also a public speaker, including taking part in the 2008 "Origins Conference" hosted by the Skeptics Society at the California Institute of Technology alongside Nancey Murphy, Hugh Ross, Leonard Susskind, Kenneth R. Miller, Sean Carroll and Michael Shermer.[12] Stenger debated several Christian apologists and scientists such as William Lane Craig, Hugh Ross, John Lennox and David J. Bartholomew on topics such as the existence of God and the relationship between science and religion.

In 1992, Uri Geller sued Stenger and Prometheus Books for $4 million, claiming defamation for questioning his "psychic powers."[13] The suit was dismissed and Geller was ordered to pay court costs.[13]

In a 2012 paper in PASA, astronomer Luke Barnes argued that many of Stenger's claims about fine-tuning were highly problematic, and that Stenger's arguments were examples of various fallacies such as "the Cheap Binoculars Fallacy" (don’t waste money buying expensive binoculars; simply stand closer to the object you wish to view).[14] Stenger responded, disputing Barnes' objections and reiterating: "The universe is not fine-tuned for us. We are fine-tuned to the universe" and "...no prominent physicist or cosmologist has disputed my basic conclusions. Barnes does not invalidate these conclusions and misunderstands and misrepresents much of what is in the book."[15]

Professional and community positions

Publications by Stenger

Books for general audiences

In recent years, Stenger's books and articles were mostly written for the wider educated public. These writings explore the interfaces between physics and cosmology, and philosophy, religion, and pseudoscience. The following books were all published by Prometheus Books.

Peer-reviewed articles

Other essays

  • Stenger, Victor (May–June 1993), "The Myth of Quantum Consciousness" (PDF), The Humanist, vol. 53, pp. 13–15, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  • Stenger, Victor (1996), "New Age Physics: Has Science Found the Path to the Ultimate?" (PDF), Free Inquiry, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 7–11
  • Stenger, Victor (1996), "Cosmythology: Was the Universe Designed to Produce Us?", Skeptic, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 36–40
  • Stenger, Victor (1996), "Quantum Metaphysics", in Brown, Laurence; Farr, Bernard; Hoffmann, Joseph (eds.), Modern Spiritualities: An Inquiry, Prometheus Books, pp. 243–253
  • Stenger, Victor (1998), "Has Science Found God?", Free Inquiry, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 56–58
  • Stenger, Victor (1999), "The Anthropic Coincidences: A Natural Explanation", Skeptical Intelligencer, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 2–17
  • Stenger, Victor (July–August 1999), "Anthropic Design: Does the Cosmos Show Evidence of Purpose?", Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 40–63, archived from the original on 2005-12-05 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  • Ramey, David; Stenger, Victor (1999), "Energy Medicine", Consumer's Guide to Alternative Therapies in the Horse, Howell Book House, pp. 55–66, ISBN 978-1582450629
  • Stenger, Victor (2000), "The Pseudophysics of Therapeutic Touch", in Scheiber, Béla; Selby, Carla (eds.), Therapeutic Touch, Prometheus Books, pp. 302–311, ISBN 978-1-57392-804-5
  • Stenger, Victor (2000), Intelligent Design: The New Stealth Creationism (PDF)
  • Stenger, Victor (2001), "Humanity in Time and Space", Free Inquiry, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 42–69
  • Stenger, Victor (2001), "Time's Arrows Point Both Ways: The View From Nowhen" (PDF), Skeptic, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 90–95
  • Stenger, Victor (September–October 2001), "The God of Falling Bodies", Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 46–49
  • Stenger, Victor (2001), "The Breath of God: Identifying Spiritual Force", in Kurtz, Paul (ed.), Skeptical Odysseys, Prometheus Books, pp. 363–374, ISBN 978-1-57392-884-7
  • Stenger, Victor (2003), "Anthropic Design: Does the Cosmos Show Evidence of Purpose?", in Kurtz, Paul (ed.), Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?, Prometheus Books, pp. 47–49, ISBN 978-1-59102-064-6
  • Stenger, Victor (2003), "The Premise Keepers", Free Inquiry, vol. 23, no. 3
  • Stenger, Victor (2004), "Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Us?", in Young, Matt; Edis, Taner (eds.), Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism, Rutgers University Press, pp. 172–184, ISBN 978-0813538723
  • Stenger, Victor (2005), "Flew's Flawed Science", Free Inquiry, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 17–18
  • Stenger, Victor (2006), "The Scientific Case Against a God Who Created the Universe", in Martin, Michael; Monnier, Ricki (eds.), The Improbability of God, Prometheus Books, ISBN 978-1-59102-381-4
  • Stenger, Victor (2006), "Do Our Values Come from God? The Evidence Says No" (PDF), Free Inquiry, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 42–45
  • Stenger, Victor (2007), "Clock Time", in Darity, William (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition, Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 978-0028661179
  • Stenger, Victor (2007), "Reality", in Darity, William (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition, Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 978-0028661179
  • Stenger, Victor (2008), "Physics, Cosmology, and the New Creationism", in Petto, Andrew; Godfrey, Laurie (eds.), Scientists Confront Creationism: Intelligent Design and Beyond, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., ISBN 978-0-393-33073-1
  • Stenger, Victor (March 2008), "Is the Brain a Quantum Device?", Skeptical Briefs, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 9, 13
  • Stenger, Victor (2008), "Where Can God Act? The New Quantum Theology", Free Inquiry, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 1–36
  • Stenger, Victor (2009), "Time, Arrow of", in Birx, H. James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture, SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN 978-1412941648
  • Stenger, Victor (2009), "Time, Asymmetry of", in Birx, H. James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture, SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN 978-1412941648
  • Stenger, Victor (2009), "Time, Operational Definition of", in Birx, H. James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture, SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN 978-1412941648
  • Stenger, Victor (2009), "Universe, Origin of", in Birx, H. James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture, SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN 978-1412941648
  • Stenger, Victor (2009), "Planck time", in Birx, H. James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture, SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN 978-1412941648
  • Stenger, Victor (2009), "Time, Symmetry of", in Birx, H. James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture, SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN 978-1412941648
  • Stenger, Victor (2009), "Time, Units of", in Birx, H. James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture, SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN 978-1412941648
  • Stenger, Victor (2012), "Free Will and Autonomous Will", Skeptic, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 15–19

Columnist

From 1998 to 2011 Stenger wrote for the column "Reality Check," in Skeptical Briefs, the quarterly newsletter of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).[17]

Since August, 2010 he was also a regular featured science columnist for the Huffington Post.[3][18]

Pantheon of skeptics

Stenger has been included in CSI's Pantheon of Skeptics. The Pantheon of Skeptics was created by CSI to remember the legacy of deceased fellows of CSI and their contributions to the cause of scientific skepticism.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b Stenger, Victor John. "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). University of Colorado. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b "A Biography of Victor J. Stenger". Colorado.edu. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  3. ^ a b Audio of interview with Stenger on the podcast "Skepticality" released 28 August 2012 by the Skeptics Society.
  4. ^ Stenger, Victor J. (9 March 2012). "The Fall of Foolish Faith". Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  5. ^ "Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings. - Victor Stenger - RichardDawkins.net". Old.richarddawkins.net. 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  6. ^ Mehta, Hemant. "Victor Stenger, Physicist and Prolific Atheist Author, is Dead at 79". Patheos. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  7. ^ a b "[Denver] Victor Stenger: "God: The Failed Hypothesis"". Center for Inquiry. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  8. ^ "Quantum Metaphysics". Colorado.edu. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  9. ^ "Victor Stenger - God: The Failed Hypothesis". Point of Inquiry. 2007-03-02. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  10. ^ Vic Stenger (2008-08-19). "Victor J. Stenger". Colorado.edu. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  11. ^ "Victor Stenger". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  12. ^ "ORIGINS — the BIG Questions: 2008 Skeptics Society Conference: Dr. Victor Stenger". Origins.skeptic.com. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  13. ^ a b "Uri Geller Libel Suit Dismissed". Skeptical Inquirer. August 1994. Archived from the original on 2008-02-11. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Barnes, Luke (June 2012). "The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 29 (4): 529–564. arXiv:1112.4647. Bibcode:2012PASA...29..529B. doi:10.1071/AS12015.
  15. ^ Stenger, Victor J. (28 Jan 2012). "Defending The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning". arXiv:1202.4359 [physics.pop-ph].
  16. ^ "CSI Board, Fellows, and Staff". Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  17. ^ "Skeptical Briefs — Reality Check". Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  18. ^ "Entries by Victor Stenger". Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  19. ^ "The Pantheon of Skeptics". CSI. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
Wikiquote has quotations related to Victor J. Stenger.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Victor_J._Stenger&oldid=858210870"