Nick Herbert (born September 7, 1936) is an American physicist and author, best known for his book '' Quantum Reality''.

Biography

Herbert studied

engineering physics Engineering physics (EP), sometimes engineering science, is the field of study combining pure science disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology) and engineering disciplines (computer, nuclear, electrical, aerospace, medic ...

at The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, graduating in 1959. He received a Ph.D. in physics from

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 ...

in 1967 for work on nuclear scattering experiments. After a one-year teaching job at

Monmouth College Monmouth College is a Private college, private Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Monmouth, Illinois. It enrolls 727 students in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science de ...

in Illinois, Herbert held a number of posts in industry. The most illustrious of these was senior physicist at

Memorex Memorex Corp. began as a magnetic tape, computer tape producer and expanded to become both a consumer media supplier and a major IBM plug compatible peripheral supplier. It was broken up and ceased to exist after 1996 other than as a consumer el ...

Corporation in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

, where he developed new magnetic materials, as well as magnetic, electrostatic and optical measuring devices, and carried out theoretical work on Lorentz microscopy. He was also senior physicist at Smith-Corona Marchant Corporation in Palo Alto, California where he developed a new theory of

xerographic Xerography is a dry photocopying technique. Originally called electrophotography, it was renamed xerography—from the Greek roots , meaning "dry" and , meaning "writing"—to emphasize that unlike reproduction techniques then in use such as c ...

process and worked on early developments in ink jet printing. While employed in industry, Herbert was part of the Fundamental Fysiks Group at

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

, founded in May 1975 by Elizabeth Rauscher and George Weissmann. The group's initial interest was in the interpretation of quantum mechanics, the

EPR paradox EPR may refer to: Science and technology * EPR (nuclear reactor), European Pressurised-Water Reactor * EPR paradox (Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox), in physics * Earth potential rise, in electrical engineering * East Pacific Rise, a mid-ocea ...

, and Bell's inequality, and members pursued also diverse interests that lay outside of mainstream physics, exploring

psychedelic drugs Psychedelics are a subclass of Hallucinogen, hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger psychoactive drug, non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also ...

, psi phenomena, the nature of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

, and speculative connections of these areas with quantum physics. During the 1970s and 1980s, Herbert and Saul-Paul Sirag organized a yearly

Esalen The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American Retreat (spiritual), retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanism, humanistic alternative education. The institute played a ke ...

Seminar on the Nature of Reality, bringing together participants to discuss the interpretation of quantum mechanics. With Richard Shoup of

Xerox PARC Future Concepts division (formerly Palo Alto Research Center, PARC and Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. It was founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, as a div ...

, Herbert constructed a "Metaphase Typewriter", a "quantum operated" device whose purpose was "to communicate with disembodied spirits". Despite many tests, including an attempt to contact the spirit of

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

on the hundredth anniversary of his birth, the group reported no success with the device. Herbert supports a

holistic Holism is the interdisciplinary idea that systems possess properties as wholes apart from the properties of their component parts. Julian Tudor Hart (2010''The Political Economy of Health Care''pp.106, 258 The aphorism "The whole is greater than t ...

interpretation of quantum physics. He has argued for "quantum animism" in which mind permeates the world at every level. Werner Krieglstein wrote regarding his quantum animism: In 1981, Herbert proposed ''FLASH'', a scheme for sending signals faster than the

speed of light The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant exactly equal to ). It is exact because, by international agreement, a metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time i ...

using

quantum entanglement Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon where the quantum state of each Subatomic particle, particle in a group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance. The topic o ...

. Of this proposal,

quantum computing A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of wave-particle duality, both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using s ...

pioneer

Asher Peres Asher Peres (; January 30, 1934 – January 1, 2005) was an Israeli physicist. Peres is best known for his work relating quantum mechanics and information theory. He helped to develop the Peres–Horodecki criterion for quantum entanglement, as w ...

wrote, "I was the referee who approved the publication of Nick Herbert’s ''FLASH paper'', knowing perfectly well that it was wrong. I explain why my decision was the correct one, and I briefly review the progress to which it led." Chief among the results that Peres claimed stemmed from a refutation of Herbert's proposal was the

no-cloning theorem In physics, the no-cloning theorem states that it is impossible to create an independent and identical copy of an arbitrary unknown quantum state, a statement which has profound implications in the field of quantum computer, quantum computing among ...

, proved by Wootters, Zurek, and Dieks.

Books

*'' Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics''. New York: Doubleday, 1985. *''Faster Than Light: Superluminal Loopholes in Physics''. New York: Dutton, 1988. *''Elemental Mind: Human Consciousness & the New Physics''. New York: Dutton, 1995. *''Alice Zwischen Den Welten'' (with Bill Shanley). DVA, 1999.

References

Sources

* * * *
CONVERSATIONS''">Interview with Nick Herbert: ''MAVERICKS OF THE MIND: NEW MILLENIUM CONVERSATIONS''

External links

Nick Herbert with Dr. Jabir website

Nick Herbert blog

Chasing the Quantum Tantra (Scientific American 2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, Nick 1936 births 21st-century American physicists Living people American animists Quantum mysticism advocates Stanford University alumni