Brian David Josephson

Brian David Josephson (born 4 January 1940; Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh physicist. He became a Nobel Prize laureate in 1973 at the age of 33 with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever, and he predicted the Josephson effect.

As of autumn 2007, he is a retired professor at the University of Cambridge where he is the head of the mind-matter unification project in the Theory of Condensed Matter research group. He is also a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1]

[edit] Science and religion

He has participated in science and religion discussions. Regarding conflict, he stated "I don't see a conflict. There are conflicts between the views of many scientists on religion, but I think there need be no ultimate conflict. Science may be capable of extension in a way that is compatible with the tenets of religion." ^[2]

[edit] Paranormal

Josephson is one of the more well-known scientists who say that parapsychological phenomena may be real, and is also interested in the possibility that Eastern mysticism may have relevance to scientific understanding.^[3] He has said that one of his guiding principles has been nullius in verba (take nobody's word), saying that "if scientists as a whole denounce an idea, this should not necessarily be taken as proof that the said idea is absurd; rather, one should examine carefully the alleged grounds for such opinions and judge how well these stand up to detailed scrutiny."^[4][5]

[edit] Publications

Take nobody's word for it, New Scientist, Volume: 192 Issue: 2581 Pages: 56-57 (2006)
Positive bias to paranormal claims, Physics World, Volume: 13 Issue: 10 Pages: 20-20 (2000)
What is truth? Physics World, Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Pages: 15-15 (1999)
Skeptics cornered, Physics World, Volume: 10 Issue: 9 Pages: 20-20 (1997)
Light Barrier, New Scientist, Volume: 146 Issue: 1975 Pages: 55-55 (1995)
Awkward Eclipse, New Scientist, Volume: 144 Issue: 1956 Pages: 51-51 (1994)
All in the Memes, New Statesman & Society, Volume: 6 Issue: 276 Pages: 28-29 (1993)
Defining Consciousness, Nature, Volume: 358 Issue: 6388 Pages: 618-618 (1992)
Telepathy Works, New Scientist, Volume: 135 Issue: 1833 Pages: 50-50 (1992)
Supercurrents through Barriers, Advances in Physics, Volume: 14 Issue: 56 (1965)
Coupled Superconductors, Review of Modern Physics, Volume: 36 Issue: 1P1 (1964)

[edit] See also

• List of physicists
• Scientific phenomena named after people

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/josephson.html Jewish Virtual Library, Retrieved Sept 17, 2007
2. ^ page 50 of Margenau, H. (1992). Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo sapiens. Open Court Publishing Company.  co-edited with Roy Abraham Varghese. This book is mentioned in a December 28, 1992 Time magazine article: Galileo And Other Faithful Scientists
3. ^ http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9044004/Brian-D-Josephson Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Retrieved Sept 17, 2007
4. ^ http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/ Brian David Josephson's home page, Retrieved Sept 17, 2007
5. ^ Pioneer of the paranormal

[edit] External links

• [http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/ Brian Josephson's home page - Mind-Matter Unification

project]

• Josephson, Brian D. Biography by Britannica. The "1978 international symposium on consciousness at Oxford" referred to here actually took place in Cambridge!
• "Brian Josephson Eight Years Later" by Philip Anderson, Physics Today, November 1970. Anderson's account (he taught the graduate course in solid-state/many-body theory in which Josephson was a student) of Josephson's discovery.