Pepijn van Erp (born 1972) is a Dutch mathematician and skeptical activist. Van Erp studied mathematics at the

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public university, public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistentl ...

, graduating in 1999. After graduating, Van Erp worked as a statistics consultant at the PTT. Between 2002 and 2005, he lived in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. Until 2012, Van Erp was secretary at the Stichting Nijmeegs Universitair Fonds (SNUF). In 2011, Van Erp became involved with Stichting Skepsis, where he has served as board member since March 2012. Over a number of years, he has occupied himself with all sorts of dubious claims to determine whether they are

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

in nature.Full interview
/ref> In February 2013, Van Erp was one of several commentators who accused the editorial staff of talkshow '' De Wereld Draait Door'' to uncritically present the story of the heavily handicapped Niek Zervaas, who was alleged to have been able to communicate using

facilitated communication Facilitated communication (FC), or supported typing, is a scientifically discredited technique which claims to allow non-verbal people, such as those with autism, to communicate. The technique involves a facilitator guiding the disabled person ...

, a practice characterised as pseudoscience. The editorial staff later admitted that they had been 'blinded' by the wondrous story of Niek's parents, and should have been more skeptical. After van Erp criticised the ideas of American-Italian nuclear physicist Ruggero Santilli, the latter sued him, his webhost, and the chairman of Skepsis Foundation in 2016. The suit against the foundation was dismissed in August 2018 and shortly thereafter the suit against van Erp was settled. In October 2016, the electronics company

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

planned to hold a workshop called "Energy Medicine meets technology" with speakers from companies developing an electroacupuncture device and an app for mapping meridians; after van Erp posted a blog describing his efforts to get information from the companies and criticizing these devices as pseudoscience and quackery, Philips cancelled the workshop. He is also a

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player.

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erp, Pepijn van Dutch male bloggers Dutch skeptics Dutch mathematicians 1972 births Living people People from Goirle