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Brian Josephson

From Natural Philosophy Wiki
Brian Josephson
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Known forJosephson effect; Mind–Matter Unification Project
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge (Cavendish Laboratory)

Brian Josephson is a British theoretical physicist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Cambridge, best known for predicting the Josephson effect, for which he shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics. In his later career he has advocated the study of mind, consciousness and parapsychology in relation to physics, and it is this later work that leads him to be listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.

Career

Josephson made his prediction of the effect that bears his name in 1962 while a PhD student at Cambridge. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and spent his academic career in the Theory of Condensed Matter group at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Mind–Matter Unification Project

Josephson directs the Mind–Matter Unification Project, based within the Cavendish Laboratory, which he describes as an attempt to clarify the role of mind and intelligent processes in nature and their relationship to foundational physics. His interests in this area have included the relationship between quantum mechanics and consciousness, non-locality, and the interface between science and topics such as parapsychology. These positions lie outside the mainstream of physics and have attracted controversy within the scientific community.

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