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Eric Lerner

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File:Lerner at google.jpg
Lerner at a Google Tech Talks presentation in 2007

Eric J. Lerner is currently the executive director of the Focus Fusion Society and president of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc. in West Orange, New Jersey, which describes itself as a technology research, consulting and communications firm. He is an independent plasma researcher and advocates plasma cosmology, a controversial alternative cosmology. Connected to this, Lerner wrote a popular science book, The Big Bang Never Happened (1991), which criticized the research and theories regarding the Big Bang.

Personal history

Lerner was born in 1947 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He received a BA in physics from Columbia University and did graduate work in physics at the University of Maryland, College Park without completing a degree. He has studied cosmic plasma phenomena and laboratory fusion devices, especially the dense plasma focus, and is the author of a popular account of plasma cosmology, The Big Bang Never Happened (1991). Lerner describes himself as a life-long political activist, having been a participant in the 1965 Selma March, one of the committee members that helped organize the 1968 Columbia Student Strike, a current member of the NJ Civil Rights Defense Committee, and the Workers Democracy Network.

Scientific activities

The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed. The information may have been removed or included by an editor as a result. Please see discussion on the talk page considering whether its inclusion is warranted. (March 2008)

Cosmology

Lerner is a critic of the Big Bang theory and advocates an infinitely old Universe. Lerner has proposed non-mainstream alternative mechanisms to explain quasars, structure formation, the microwave background, and the origin of light elements, all based on his plasma cosmology approach. He claims that the intergalactic medium is a strong absorber of the cosmic microwave background radiation with the absorption occurring in a fog of narrow filaments. He has suggested that data on the surface brightness of galaxies contradicts the predictions of expanding-universe models. Lerner postulated that quasars are not related to black holes but are rather produced by a magnetic self-compression process similar to that occurring in the dense plasma focus.

In 2006 he accepted an invitation to be a Visiting Astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, offered at the initiative of fellow Big Bang critic and MOND enthusiast Riccardo Scarpa.

Nuclear Fusion

Lerner has done experimental work on the dense plasma focus funded by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in collaboration with the University of Illinois in 1994, and with Texas A&M University in 2001. In addition, he developed an original model of the role of the strong magnetic field effect on plasma functioning, which he believes could make the production of useful energy from aneutronic fusion more feasible. He submitted a US patent application in 2006 entitled "Method and apparatus for producing X-rays, ion beams and nuclear fusion energy" which describes the proposed process and equipment.

He has presented this approach to fusion at several scientific conferences including the IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, 2002, the American Physical Society, 2003 and the XI Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics, 2005. Lerner was a speaker at both the Fifth (2003) and Sixth (2005) Symposia on Current Trends in International Fusion Research. In the Sixth Symposium the paper was presented with Robert E. Terry, Naval Research Laboratory.

Other

Lerner is also a prolific general science writer, who estimates about 600 articles published, has received several journalism awards from the Aviation Space Writers Association from 1984 to 1993, and holds a 1993 US patent for a "Method for desalination and fresh water recovery".

Reception of The Big Bang Never Happened

File:Big-bang-never-happened.jpg
Lerner's 1991 book, The Big Bang Never Happened

Lerner received some notoriety with the publishing of his popular-level book in 1991, which disputed Big Bang cosmology. James Van Allen, a space scientist who discovered the Earth's Van Allen belts, provided the following review:

"Eric J. Lerner gives both a provocative critique of the Big Bang and a stimulating account of the insightful and creative, although controversial, cosmology of Nobel Laureate Hannes Alfven."

However, in general Lerner's ideas have not been acknowledged or adopted by cosmologists or astronomers. The general response of cosmologists to Lerner's dispute with standard cosmology is negative. For example, Paul Davies reviewed his book for the New York Times and panned it. The newspaper published a rebuttal by Lerner which was itself criticized by Arno A. Penzias, winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics:

"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, Univ. of Hawaii Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy, criticized Lerner's book in a 1992 edition of the popular magazine, Skeptical Inquirer. He stated that, "The big bang may be wrong, but Lerner can't seriously expect to prove it in a popular book." He also wrote:

Lerner uses the kinds of arguments one often hears in public discourse on science, but rarely among professional scientists themselves. For example, he argues that plasma cosmology is in closer agreement with everyday observation than Big Bang cosmology, and hence is the more sensible. A look through a telescope reveals spirals and other structures similar to those observed in the plasma laboratory, and as cosmologist Rocky Kolb has remarked, in your bathroom toilet as well. Following Lerner's line of reasoning, we would conclude, as people once did, that the earth is flat, that the sun goes around the earth, and that species are immutable."

Partial list of papers and articles

Publications in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science'
Industrial Physicist articles
Popular level articles and opinion pieces

Notes

  1. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1518007279479871760&q=Google+tech+talks+lerner&pr=goog-sl
  2. See Personnel listed on the Web site for Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc.
  3. H. Ratcliffe, "The First Crisis in Cosmology Conference" (PDF), Progress in Physics (Oct 2005)
  4. Columbia Alumni Directory, 1988 edition, p.211.
  5. Biography at the Space Show
  6. Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement website, as confirmed by the subject
  7. A Memorandum from the Strike Education Committee, archived by Columbia University, clearly listing Eric Lerner as one of their members.
  8. NJ Civil Rights Defense Committee
  9. See "Jails must stop using dogs near immigration detainees" SignOnSanDiego.com December 7, 2004.
  10. See "Immigrant detainee breaks fast in Passaic" NorthJersey.com March 16, 2005
  11. See "Lectures discuss international banking", The Daily Targum, March 28, 2000.
  12. "Magnetic Vortex Filaments, Universal Invariants and the Fundamental Constants," IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Special Issue on Cosmic Plasma, Vol. PS‑14, No. 6, Dec. 1986, pp. 690‑702.
  13. "Force-Free Magnetic Filaments and the Cosmic Background Radiation", IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol.20, no. 6, Dec. 1992, pp. 935-938.
  14. "Galactic Model of Element Formation," IEEE Transac­tions on Plasma Science, Vol. 17, No. 3, April 1989, pp. 259‑263.
  15. "Radio Absorption by the Intergalactic Medium," The Astro­physical Journal, Vol. 361, Sept. 20, 1990, pp. 63‑68.
  16. "Confirmation of Radio Absorption by the Intergalactic Medium", Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol 207, 1993 p.17-26.
  17. "Intergalactic Radio Absorption and the COBE Data", Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol.227, May, 1995, p.61-81
  18. Evidence for a Non-Expanding Universe: Surface Brightness Data From HUDF Proceedings of the First Crisis in Cosmology Conference, AIP proceedings series 822, 2006, p.60-74.
  19. "Magnetic Self-Compression in Laboratory Plasma, Quasars and Radio Galaxies," Laser and Particle Beams, Vol. 4, Pt. 2, (1986), pp. 193-222.
  20. Retrieved November 10, 2006.
  21. JPL Contract 959962
  22. JPL Contract 960283
  23. Prospects for P11B Fusion with the Dense Plasma Focus: New Results Invited presentation, 5th Symposium "Current Trends in International Fusion Research: A Review" March 24-28, 2003, Washington, D.C. Arxiv
  24. http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&p=1&S1=%22x-rays+ion+beams+nuclear+fusion+energy%22&OS=%22x-rays+ion+beams+nuclear+fusion+energy%22&RS=%22x-rays+ion+beams+nuclear+fusion+energy
  25. 3B: Magnetic Fusion, High Energy Density Hydrodynamics and Vacuum Microelectronics
  26. Magnetic effects and prospects for pB11 fusion
  27. XI Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics, Conference Programme, Mexico City, 5-9 December 2005.
  28. 2005 Fusion Symposium, Program, Advances Towards pB11 Fusion with the Dense Plasma Focus
  29. Lerner estimates he has had about 600 articles published, in article such as Discover, and Industrial Physicist,
  30. US Patent #5,207,928)
  31. Included on the back cover of the hardback edition of The Big Bang Never Happened
  32. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD8123CF932A3575AC0A967958260
  33. Letter to the Editor June 18, 1991
  34. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Sep 1, 1991. p. A.4
  35. Stenger, Victor J. (Summer 1992). "Is the Big Bang a Bust?". Skeptical Inquirer. 16 (412).

External links and references

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