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Eric J. Lerner is an American popular science writer, independent plasma researcher, and serves as the executive director of the Focus Fusion Society and president of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc. He is an advocate of plasma cosmology, a nonstandard cosmology, and authored the 1991 book The Big Bang Never Happened, which advocates Hannes Alfvén's alternative to the dominant Big Bang theory.
Professional work
Lerner was born in 1947 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and received a BA in physics from Columbia University. He did graduate work in physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and then pursued a career in popular science writing.
In 1984, he began studying plasma phenomena and laboratory fusion devices, performing experimental work on the dense plasma focus. Lerner received funding from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1994 and 2001 to explore whether the dense plasma focus could be an effective ion thruster to propel spacecraft. He believes that it can also be used to produce useful aneutronic fusion energy.
Lerner is a critic of the Big Bang model and advocates an infinitely old Universe. In 2006 he accepted an invitation to be a Visiting Scientist at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, offered at the initiative of fellow Big Bang critic and MOND enthusiast Riccardo Scarpa.
Lerner is also an active general science writer, estimating that he has had about 600 articles published. He has received journalism awards between 1984 and 1993 from the Aviation Space Writers Association.
Activism
While at Columbia, Lerner participated in the 1965 Selma March and helped organize the 1968 Columbia Student Strike.
In the 1970s, Lerner became involved in the National Caucus of Labor Committees, an offshoot of the Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society. Lerner left the National Caucus in 1978, and later argued in a lawsuit that he had been pressured to (but did not) illegally channel profits of an engineering firm to the US Labor Party, an organization led by Lyndon LaRouche.
Lerner has been involved in political activism. He has sought civil rights protection for immigrants as a member and spokesman for the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee.
The Big Bang Never Happened
The Big Bang Never Happened: A Startling Refutation of the Dominant Theory of the Origin of the Universe (1991) is Lerner's controversial book repudiating mainstream Big Bang cosmology and advancing instead a non-standard plasma cosmology originally proposed by Hannes Alfvén, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physics, in the 1960s.
In this work, Lerner claims that the Big Bang theory is inconsistent with empirical data and asserts that plasma cosmology provides a model of the universe more consistent with observable physical laws than the big bang:
The phenomena that the Big Bang seeks to explain with a mysterious ancient catacylsm, plasma theories attribute to electrical and magnetic processes occurring in the universe today.
He proposes a model of thermodynamics which he attributes in part to the work of Ilya Prigogine under which the universe has no definite age and continually increases in order.
The book received unfavorable reviews from professional cosmologists. Paul Davies, a leading proponent and popularizer of the big bang theory, reviewed the book for the New York Times and found it to be unsatisfactory. The newspaper published a rebuttal by Lerner, focused on Davies's misattribution of the theory to Lerner instead of to Alfvén:
- "Mr. Davies's motive in this is clear. Like other supporters of the big bang, he wants to portray a 'scientific establishment' unified behind an unquestioned theory that is challenged only by a few individuals without real credentials. Mr. Davies finds it impossible to admit that a Nobel laureate believes that the universe had no beginning, that, in Mr. Alfven's words, 'the big bang is a myth'."
This rebuttal was itself criticized by Arno A. Penzias, winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on cosmic microwave background radiation, generally regarded as the radio remnant of the Big Bang:
- "The sizes of the vast ribbons of galaxies that Eric J. Lerner refers to come straight out of the Big Bang model itself.... Contrary to Mr. Lerner's claim, therefore, the 'simple mathematics' he cites rests upon, rather than contradicts the Big Bang model."
Subsequent to this, Davies himself responded to Lerner's criticism of his review:
- '"It seems to me that the theory proposed by Mr. Lerner has serious problems in relation to thermodynamics. This is merely my professional opinion, for what it is worth. Others can judge for themselves.... I accept that Mr. Lerner's book reports work that is largely due to Hannes Alfven, but this does not render it immune from criticism."
Victor J. Stenger, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, criticized Lerner's book in a 1992 edition of the popular magazine, Skeptical Inquirer. Professor Edward L. Wright of UCLA stated that there are several errors of fact in the book; Lerner disputed the claims of this review on his web page "Dr. Wright is Wrong." Sean M. Carroll has also written a critique of Lerner's advocacy.
The book also received favorable reviews from a number of reviewers who were not professional cosmologists.
References
- John Wilford, "Novel Theory Challenges The Big Bang", New York Times, February 28, 1989
- See Personnel listed on the Web site for Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc.
- H. Ratcliffe, "The First Crisis in Cosmology Conference" (PDF), Progress in Physics (Oct 2005)
- Columbia Alumni Directory, 1988 edition, p.211
- Biography at the Space Show, 2006
- Kenneth Chang, "Practical Fusion, or Just a Bubble?", New York Times, Feb. 27, 2007
- JPL Contract 959962, pg 8, and JPL Contract 960283
- Patrick Huyghe, "3 Ideas That Are Pushing the Edge of Science", Discover Magazine, June 2008
- Marcus Chown, "Did the Big Bang Really Happen?", New Scientist, 2 July 2005
- ESO Senior Visits in 2006, activities, and ESO Santiago Science Colloquia and Seminars 2006
- Lerner estimates he has had about 600 articles published, in article such as Discover, and Industrial Physicist.
- Kasra Manoocheri, "Selma Interview: Eric Lerner", Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement web site, Feb. 2007
- "A Memorandum from the Strike Education Committee", Columbia University archives, May 4, 1968. Lists Eric Lerner as one of the committee members.
- King, Dennis (1989). "32". Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism. Doubleday. ISBN 0385238800.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - Spencer S. Hsu, "Immigrants Mistreated, Report Says", Washington Post, Jan. 17, 2007; A08
- Eman Varoqua, "Not Everyone Is A Terrorist", The Record (Bergen County, NJ), Dec. 7, 2004
- Eric Lerner, "The Big Bang Never Happened", page 12
- Eric Lerner, "The Big Bang Never Happened", page 13
- Eric Lerner, "The Big Bang Never Happened", page 14
- Eric Lerner, "The Big Bang Never Happened", footnote on page 388
- Eric Lerner, "The Big Bang Never Happened", pages 286-316
- ^ Wright, Edward L. "Errors in "The Big Bang Never Happened"
- ^ "Big Bang Theory Makes Sense of Cosmic Facts; No Contradiction", New York Times, June 18, 1991
- ^ "Did the Big Bang Happen?", New York Times, Sep 1, 1991
- ^ Stenger, Victor J. (Summer 1992). "Is the Big Bang a Bust?". Skeptical Inquirer. 16 (412).
- "The Big Bang Never Happened: Dr. Wright is Wrong". Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- Sean Carroll offers a direct critique of these alternatives on his blog Preposterous Universe
- "Editorial Reviews". Amazon.com.
External links and references
- Official websites: