Gerald Feinberg (27 May 1933 – 21 April 1992) was a

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

and popular science author. He spent a year as a Member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

, and two years at the Brookhaven Laboratories. Feinberg went to

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science is a State school, public Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in the Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science ...

with

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...

and Sheldon Glashow and obtained his bachelor's and graduate degrees from

. His father was Yiddish poet and journalist Leon Feinberg. Among his students were Scott Dodelson, physicist at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Research

He coined the term

tachyon A tachyon () or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always travels Faster-than-light, faster than light. Physicists posit that faster-than-light particles cannot exist because they are inconsistent with the known Scientific law#L ...

for hypothetical faster-than-light particles and analysed their quantum field properties, predicted the existence of the

muon neutrino The muon neutrino is an elementary particle which has the symbol and zero electric charge. Together with the muon it forms the second generation of leptons, hence the name muon neutrino. It was discovered in 1962 by Leon Lederman, Melvin Schwa ...

and advocated

cryonics Cryonics (from ''kryos'', meaning "cold") is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains in the hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticism by the mainstream scien ...

as a public service. He was a member of the

Foresight Institute The Foresight Institute (Foresight) is a San Francisco-based research non-profit that promotes the development of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies, such as safe AGI, biotech and longevity. Foresight runs four cross-disciplinary p ...

's advisory panel.

Parapsychology

Feinberg wrote a foreword to

Edgar Mitchell Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell (September 17, 1930 – February 4, 2016) was a United States Navy officer and United States Naval Aviator, aviator, test pilot, Aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer, Ufology, ufologist, and NASA astronaut. ...

's book ''Psychic Explorations'' (1974) in which he endorsed psychic phenomena. His concept of a tachyon, a theoretical particle that travels faster than the speed of light has been advocated by some parapsychologists who claim that it could explain

precognition Precognition (from the Latin 'before', and 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future. There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a ...

psychokinesis Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

. However, there is no scientific evidence tachyon particles exist and such paranormal claims have been described as pseudoscientific. Carroll, Robert Todd. (2003). '' The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions''. Wiley. pp. 370-371.

Publications

Books *''Cosmological Constants'' (with co-editor Jeremy Bernstein, 1986). *''Solid Clues: Quantum Physics, Molecular Biology, and the Future of Science'', Simon & Schuster, 1985. *''Life Beyond Earth: The Intelligent Earthling's Guide to Extraterrestrial Life'' (with Robert Shapiro), Morrow, 1980. *''What is the world made of? : Atoms, leptons, quarks, and other tantalizing particles'', Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1977. & *''Consequences of Growth: The Prospects for a Limitless Future'', Seabury Press, New York, 1977.
Review
*''The Prometheus Project, Mankind's Search for Long-Range Goals'', Anchor Books, 1969. Papers * * * * *

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feinberg, Gerald 1933 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American physicists American parapsychologists Columbia University faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni