Victor J. Stenger

Victor J. Stenger

Victor J. Stenger in 2011
Born January 29, 1935
Bayonne, New Jersey
Died August 25, 2014(2014-08-25) (aged 79)
Hawaii
Citizenship United States of America
Nationality American
Fields physics, philosophy
Alma mater UCLA
Thesis Low Energy K+d Scattering and the I=0 KN Interaction[1] (1963)
Doctoral advisor Harold K. Ticho
Spouse Phylliss Marcia Stenger (m. 1962)[2]
Children Noelle Green, Victor Andrew[1]

Victor John Stenger (January 29, 1935 – August 25, 2014) was an American particle physicist, philosopher, author, and religious skeptic.

Following a career as a research scientist in the field of particle physics, Stenger was associated with New Atheism and he also authored popular science books. He published twelve books for general audiences on physics, quantum mechanics, cosmology, philosophy, religion, atheism, and pseudoscience, including the 2007 best-seller God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist. His final book was God and the Multiverse: Humanity's Expanding View of the Cosmos (September 9, 2014). He was also a regular featured science columnist for the Huffington Post.[3]

He was an advocate for removing the influence of religion from scientific research, commercial activity, and the political decision process,[4] and he coined the phrase "Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings".[5]

Personal life

Victor J. Stenger was born on January 29, 1935 and raised in a working-class neighborhood of Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was a Lithuanian immigrant and his mother was the daughter of Hungarian immigrants.[2] He died in August 2014 at the age of 79.[6]

Career

Education and employment

Stenger attended public schools in Bayonne, New Jersey before going on to receive a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Newark College of Engineering (now the New Jersey Institute of Technology). He then moved to Los Angeles on a Hughes Aircraft Company fellowship, where he earned a Master of Science from UCLA in 1958 and a Ph.D in 1963, both in physics.[7]

He then moved to Hawai'i, where he was a member of the Department of Physics at the University of Hawaii until his 2000 retirement. He held visiting positions on the faculties of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Oxford University (twice), and was a visiting researcher at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory[8] in England, the National Nuclear Physics Laboratory in Frascati, Italy, and the University of Florence in Italy.[9] He was also an Emeritus Professor of physics at the University of Hawaii, and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado.[10]

Scientist

Stenger's first peer-reviewed publication was in 1964, and his research career continued until his retirement in 2000. His research involved work that determined properties of gluons, quarks, strange particles, and neutrinos.[7] Stenger focused on neutrino astronomy and very high-energy gamma rays.

Philosopher and skeptic

Stenger was an advocate of philosophical naturalism, skepticism, and atheism. He was a prominent critic of intelligent design and the aggressive use of the anthropic principle. He maintained that if consciousness and free will do exist, they will eventually be explained in a scientific manner that invokes neither the mystical nor the supernatural. He repeatedly criticized those who invoke the perplexities of quantum mechanics in support of the paranormal, mysticism, or supernatural phenomena, and wrote several books and articles aiming to debunk contemporary pseudoscience.[11]

Stenger was also a public speaker, including taking part in the 2008 "Origins Conference" hosted by the Skeptics Society at the California Institute of Technology alongside Nancey Murphy, Hugh Ross, Leonard Susskind, Kenneth R. Miller, Sean Carroll and Michael Shermer.[12] Stenger debated several Christian apologists and scientists such as William Lane Craig, Hugh Ross, John Lennox and David J. Bartholomew on topics such as the existence of God and the relationship between science and religion.

In 1992, Uri Geller sued Stenger and Prometheus Books for $4 million, claiming defamation for questioning his "psychic powers."[13] The suit was dismissed and Geller was ordered to pay court costs.[13]

In a 2012 paper in PASA, astronomer Luke Barnes argued that many of Stenger's claims about fine-tuning were highly problematic, and that Stenger's arguments were examples of various fallacies such as "the Cheap Binoculars Fallacy" (don’t waste money buying expensive binoculars; simply stand closer to the object you wish to view).[14] Stenger responded, disputing Barnes' objections and reiterating: "The universe is not fine-tuned for us. We are fine-tuned to the universe".[15]

Professional and community positions

Publications by Stenger

Books for general audiences

In recent years, Stenger's books and articles were mostly written for the wider educated public. These writings explore the interfaces between physics and cosmology, and philosophy, religion, and pseudoscience. The following books were all published by Prometheus Books.

Peer-reviewed articles

Other essays

Columnist

From 1998 to 2011 Stenger wrote for the column "Reality Check," in Skeptical Briefs, the quarterly newsletter of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).[17]

Since August, 2010 he was also a regular featured science columnist for the Huffington Post.[3][18]

See also

The following persons cite Stenger's work,

References

  1. 1 2 Stenger, Victor John. "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). University of Colorado. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 "A Biography of Victor J. Stenger". Colorado.edu. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  3. 1 2 Audio of interview with Stenger on the podcast "Skepticality" released 28 August 2012 by the Skeptics Society.
  4. Stenger, Victor J. (9 March 2012). "The Fall of Foolish Faith". Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  5. "Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings. - Victor Stenger - RichardDawkins.net". Old.richarddawkins.net. 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  6. Mehta, Hemant. "Victor Stenger, Physicist and Prolific Atheist Author, is Dead at 79". Patheos. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  7. 1 2 "[Denver] Victor Stenger: "God: The Failed Hypothesis"". Center for Inquiry. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  8. "Quantum Metaphysics". Colorado.edu. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  9. "Victor Stenger - God: The Failed Hypothesis". Point of Inquiry. 2007-03-02. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  10. Vic Stenger (2008-08-19). "Victor J. Stenger". Colorado.edu. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  11. "Victor Stenger". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  12. "ORIGINS — the BIG Questions: 2008 Skeptics Society Conference: Dr. Victor Stenger". Origins.skeptic.com. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  13. 1 2 "Uri Geller Libel Suit Dismissed". Skeptical Inquirer. August 1994. Archived from the original on 2008-02-11.
  14. Barnes, Luke (June 2012). "The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 29 (4): 529–564. doi:10.1071/AS12015. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  15. Stenger, Victor J. (28 Jan 2012). "Defending The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning". arXiv:1202.4359Freely accessible [physics.pop-ph].
  16. "CSI Board, Fellows, and Staff". Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  17. "Skeptical Briefs — Reality Check". Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  18. "Entries by Victor Stenger". Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
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