Alan Hammond Nichols (born February 14, 1930) is an American attorney, author, explorer and authority on sacred mountains. He was the 42nd president of

The Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

Life

Nichols was educated at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

receiving a BA and election to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

in 1951. From 1951 to 1954, he saw active service in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

with the 47th Infantry Division of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

, mustering out as a lieutenant with a commendation medal with four clusters. Back to civilian life, Nichols returned to

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

to study law getting his JD in 1955. As a first-year law student he was selected for the Board of Editors of the

Stanford Law Review The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produce ...

. After passing the bar, Nichols practiced law in the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

area for over 50 years specializing in business, banking, finance, and non-profit companies. During this time he was actively involved in the governance of community organizations most notably the

San Francisco Unified School District San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), established in 1851, is the only public school district within the City and County of San Francisco, and the first in the state of California. Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Edu ...

(SFUSD),

City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, enrolling as many as 1 in 35 San Franc ...

Prescott College Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona, United States. History Prescott College was founded in 1966 after a conference titled "Emergence of a Concept". Conveners Charles Parker and the Ford Foundation brought together leade ...

, Cathedral (Elementary) School, Webb (High) School, the graduate school of California College, and the Ewald Foundation. During his tenure as president of SFUSD he was named respondent in the landmark 1974 civil rights case Lau v. Nichols, where the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

found for the students. AlanNicholsTibet2008

Nichols has been active in campaigning and fund raising for the Republican party in his home state of California. In 1990, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress from the

5th District District 5, 5 District or 5th District may refer to: Europe * District 5 (Zürich) * District 5, Düsseldorf * V District, Turku * Districts of Malta#District 5, District 5, an electoral district of Malta * Districts of Malta#District 5 2, Distric ...

of California against Democrat

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

. Throughout his life his interest in spirituality, religion and culture have inspired Nichols to travel the world and in doing so to attain many notable firsts. Among these, in 1978 when

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

opened the Tibet Autonomous Region for tourism he was the first Westerner to have permission to make pilgrimages to the sacred Tibetan sites of

Mount Kailash Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; ; ; , ) is a mountain in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the Kailash Range (Gangdisê Mountains) of the Transhimalaya, in the western part ...

and

Lake Manasarovar Lake Manasarovar also called Mapam Yumtso (; ) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is located at an elevation of , near the western trijunction ...

. He has bicycled the entire 10,300 miles of the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Xi’an Xi'an is the capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populous city in Northwestern Chin ...

, a journey completed in four legs beginning in 1989 and concluding in 2005. In 2010 and 2012 he was the first to lead expeditions into little traveled areas of

Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

and China in search of the tomb of the great Mongol emperor

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

."Explorer plans hunt for Genghis Khan's long-lost tomb"
Koprowski, Gene J. Fox News. November 18, 2013. Nichols holds an honorary doctor of science degree from California College of Podiatric Medicine. He resides in

Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...

, California, with his wife Rebecca "Becky" Rygh-Nichols.

Selected publications

Nichols' written works include: Non-fiction *Nichols, Alan H. & Rogers, Harold E. (1965). Water for California: Planning, Law & Practice, Finance. San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney.
Hathi Trust Digital Library
. *Nichols, Alan (1988, March) "The Xinjiang-Tibet Mountain Bike Expedition." The Explorers Journal. Volume 66, Number 1. *Nichols, Alan H., Nichols, Nancy A. editor (1991). Journey: A Bicycle Odyssey through Central Asia. San Francisco: J.D. Huff & Company. . *Nichols, Alan H., Nichols, Nancy A., editor (1992). Letters Home from the Lafayette Flying Corps. San Francisco: J.D. Huff & Company. *Nichols, Alan H. (2002). Travels with Annie. Sacred Mountain Press. *Nichols, Alan H., editor (2003). Curriculum Guide for the Arts. The Ewald Foundation

*Nichols, Alan H. (2003/4, Winter). "Cycling the Silk Road: A Central Asian Adventure." The Explorers Journal. Volume 84, Number 4. Under pen name *Hammond, Alan (1978). A Gift from the Master. Las Vegas, NV: Illuminated Way Press. . *Hammond, Alan (1979). To Climb a Sacred Mountain: One Man's Search for God Atop the Holy Mountains of the World. Las Vegas, NV: Illuminated Way Press. As contributor *Fok, Pat & Terrill, Ross (1974). Faces of China: Tomorrow, Today, Yesterday. Great Britain: Michael Joseph Limited. Contribution: Text on sacred mountains. *Nichols, Nancy Ann (1991). San Quentin: Inside the Walls. San Francisco: San Quentin Museum Association. Contribution: Pictures, stories and history. Fiction *Nichols, Alan (2000). Adventures in Time (Poems from the 20th Century). Belvedere, CA: The Rygh Corporation. (c) Alan Nichols. Under pen name *Hammond, Alan (1962). San Francisco Commuter. Poems. San Francisco: Pendragon Press. *Hammond, Alan (2011). All's Fair in Love and Law: Small Town Tales of Life, Laughter and Litigation. Novel. United Kingdom: Orion Publishing.

References

External links

The Explorers Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Alan 1930 births 20th-century American explorers 20th-century American lawyers Living people Writers from Palo Alto, California 20th-century American male writers