How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival

by Kaiser, David

  22 Other than Bell’s own 1966 review article on hidden variables, completed before his 1964 paper but published after it, the first article to cite Bell’s 1964 paper was Clark and Turner (1968), 447. Citation data from Science Citation Index (1961–).

  23 Clauser interview with Joan Bromberg (2002), 34, 51, 52; and Selleri interview with Olival Freire (2003), 23; both transcripts available in NBL. One member of Selleri’s group, the experimentalist Vittorio Rapisarda, died in a car accident while driving from Catania to Bari for one of the group’s regular meetings: 48, 49. For an indication of the tight-knit community working on Bell’s theorem at the time, see the acknowledgments in Vigier (1974); Bohm and Hiley (1976b); Garuccio and Selleri (1976); Lamehi-Rachti and Mittig (1976); Baracca, Cornia, Livi, and Ruffo (1978); and Selleri (1978).

  24 Based on data in Science Citation Index (1961–).

  Chapter 3: Entanglements

  1 This chapter draws inspiration from historians’ grappling with scientists’ “self-fashioning” and personae. See esp. Biagioli (1993); Daston and Sibum (2003); and Shapin (2008).

  2 Clauser interview with Bromberg (2002), 11, 12, 14, 15; and Clauser interview (2009). See also Wick (1995), 104, 105; and Clauser (2002), esp. 71, 77, 78.

  3 J. S. Bell to John Clauser, March 5, 1969 (“shake the world”); see also Clauser to Bell, February 14, 1969, and Bohm to Clauser, February 25, 1969, all in JFC, folder “Random correspondence.” David Wick notes that Clauser’s letter was the first direct response Bell had received to his work: Wick (1995), 106n124.

  4 Clauser (1969), 578.

  5 Most of Shimony’s papers on foundations of quantum theory are collected in Shimony (1993), vol. 2.

  6 Shimony interview with Bromberg (2002), 39, 40 (receipt of Bell’s preprint), 49 (“kooky paper”), 51, 52 (“quantum archaeology”), and 53 (“whole thing on ice”). Shimony attributes the term “quantum archaeology” to his then–graduate student, Michael Horne (ibid., 51).

  7 Shimony interview with Bromberg (2002), 54, 55, 71 (“civilized”); Clauser interview with Bromberg (2002), 34, 35; and Clauser (2002), 80, 81. See also Wick (1995), 103–13; and Aczel (2001), chap. 14.

  8 Clauser interview with Bromberg (2002), 18, 35; and Clauser (2002), 62, 63, 70–72, 78. On the stigma at the time—especially its effects on graduate students and postdocs—see also Harvey (1980, 1981).

  9 Clauser interview with Bromberg (2002), 35 (“some of which I picked up”); Clauser interview (2009); Shimony interview with Bromberg (2002), 73, 74; and Clauser, Horne, Shimony, and Holt (1969). The journal received the article submission on August 4, 1969.

  10 On Townes, masers, lasers, and early skepticism about their compatibility with quantum mechanics, see Bromberg (1991), 17–19.

  11 Clauser interview with Bromberg (2002), 12, 13, 69–71, 73, 74 (“Dumpster diving”); Freedman and Clauser (1972). On early experimental tests of Bell’s theorem, see also Clauser and Shimony (1978); Freire (2006); and Gilder (2008), chaps. 29, 30.

  12 Clauser interview with Bromberg (2002), 41, 42; Shimony interview with Bromberg (2002), 71, 74; Freedman and Clauser (1972); and Science Citation Index (1961–), s.v. “Bell, John S.”

  13 Shimony to Clauser, August 8, 1972, in JFC, reporting the attitude of the physics department chair at San Jose State College. See also Freire (2006), 604.

  14 Rauscher interview (2008).

  15 Rauscher interview (2008).

  16 Rauscher interview (2008). See also Timothy Pfaff, “An interview with Elizabeth Rauscher,” California Monthly (University of California Alumni Magazine), ca. 1979–80 (clipping in EAR). Rauscher’s first article appeared as “Fundamentals of fusion” (1960). On cutbacks, see Anon. (1965), 16; and Clark (1966), 70.

  17 Statistics on female physics degree recipients are calculated from data in Adkins (1975), 278–81.

  18 Rauscher interview (2008). Rauscher likened her experiences during graduate school to those described in Keller (1977).

  19 On the Livermore group, see E. A. Rauscher, flyer, “Ideals and purpose of the Tuesday night club” (1969), in EAR. On Rauscher’s summer course, see The Magnet [Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory newsletter] 15 (December 1971): 5; “The philosophy of science,” The Magnet 17 (June 1973): 1; “Philosophy of science course to start,” Beam Line [Stanford Linear Accelerator Center newsletter] 3 (June 20, 1972): 2 (“rap sessions”); and R. B. Neal (acting director, SLAC), memo to “all hands,” June 14, 1972, in EAR. On the late-1960s and early-1970s protests against physicists’ facilities, see Kaiser (forthcoming), chap. 5. On more recent community-building efforts at Livermore, see Gusterson (1996).

  20 Rauscher interview (2008). On Arthur Young and his institute, see also Mishlove (1975), 263–78.

  21 Federici (1967), 5; and Anon. (1967a), back page.

  22 See the photographs accompanying Pasolli (1966), 19; and Novick (1966), 17.

  23 Saul-Paul Sirag, email to the author, July 18, 2010.

  24 Saul-Paul Sirag, email to the author, December 11, 2007; Sirag (2002), esp. 97, 118. See also the list of seminars for the Institute for the Study of Consciousness, winter 1976, several of them led by Sirag; copy in SPS.

  25 Nick Herbert, emails to the author, November 28, 2007, and December 1, 2007 (“no-nonsense”); and Herbert, “Doctor Quantum drops acid,” available at http://members.cruzio.com/~quanta/doctorquantum.html (accessed October 2, 2007). On Schiff’s textbook and prevailing trends in teaching quantum mechanics at the time, see Kaiser (2007a) and (forthcoming), chap. 4.

  26 Nick Herbert, email to the author, July 15, 2009 (“looking like an insane hippy”).

  27 Nick Herbert, email to the author, July 13, 2010.

  28 Heinz Pagels first told Herbert about Bell’s theorem: Nick Herbert, email to the author, December 1, 2007. Herbert’s rederivation of Bell’s theorem appears in Herbert (1975). The paper was first submitted to the journal in June 1973. On the group’s discussions with Clauser, see also Rauscher interview (2008); Sirag (2002), 107–9; and Sirag (1977a), 13.

  29 Stapp interview (2007). See also Miller (2009).

  30 Stapp interview (1998); Henry Stapp, email to the author, October 1, 2007; and Stapp interview (2007) (“in a huff”). On Stapp’s graduate work, see Stapp (1956) and Kaiser (2005), 109. Stapp’s 1968 preprint was later released as Stapp (1976). On his early lecturing about Bell’s theorem, see Kripal (2007), 310; and Stapp interview (2007). Many of Stapp’s publications on the topic are collected in Stapp (2004, 2007b).

  31 George Weissmann, remarks transcribed from videotape of the Fundamental Fysiks Group reunion, November 18, 2000, San Francisco. My thanks to George Weissmann for providing videotapes of the reunion.

  32 George Weissmann, email to the author, March 3, 2008; and Weissmann interview (2008).

  33 Weissmann interview (2008).

  34 Weissmann interview (2008); and Elizabeth Rauscher, remarks transcribed from videotape of the Fundamental Fysiks Group reunion, November 18, 2000, San Francisco (“verboten,” “very deep issues”). On Chew’s pedagogical style and “secret seminars,” see Kaiser (2005), chap. 9.

  35 Rauscher interview (2008); Weissmann interview (2008); and Capra (1988), 54–57.

  36 Wolf interview (2009). On Project Orion, see also Dyson (2002).

  37 Wolf interview (2009). Cf. Kaiser (2004). On Cold War “gadgeteering,” see also Forman (1987) and Mody (2008).

  38 Wolf interview (2009).

  39 Fred Alan Wolf, email to the author, September 24, 2007; Wolf interview (2007) (“Suddenly all of politics,” “apple was rotten”); and Gale Reference Team, “Biography: Wolf, Fred Alan (1934–),” Contemporary Authors Online, available via http://gale.cengage.com (accesssed September 25, 2007). See also Trombley (1967) and Anon. (1967b).

  40 Wolf interview (2007) (strangers’ office visits, “most physicists at that time”); and Wolf (1991), 35 (“lost the magic”).

  41 Wolf interview (2007); and Wolf (1991), 39, 40.

  42 Wolf interview (20
09).

  43 Jack Sarfatt to John A. Wheeler, March 31, 1971, in JAW, Sarfatti folders; University of California online library catalog, s.v. “Sarfatt, Jack”; Sarfatti (2002a); and Jack Sarfatti, email to the author, November 27, 2007. Sarfatti changed his name from “Sarfatt” in the mid-1970s, restoring it to an ancestral spelling; see Sarfatti (1977b), 3. Cf. Sarfatt (1963, 1965, 1967a); Sarfatt and Stoneham (1967); Sarfatt (1967b, 1967c, 1967d, 1969); Cummings, Herold, and Sarfatt (1970); Sarfatti (1972); and Sarfatt (1974a).

  44 Wolf interview (2009) and Sarfatti interview (2009). My thanks to Wolf for sharing a copy of the short film.

  45 Jack Sarfatt to John A. Wheeler, May 26, 1973, in JAW, Sarfatti folders. See also Sarfatt (1974b).

  46 Sarfatti (2002a), 45, 46 (“like Bob Hope”), 82 (meeting Salam). On Salam and his Centre, see de Greiff (2002).

  47 Saul-Paul Sirag, email to the author, December 11, 2007; Sirag (2002), 96, 97, 109, 110; Sarfatti (2002a), 44n64, 48n81; Rauscher interview (2008) (“the idea”); George Weissmann, emails to the author, November 28, 2007, and March 3, 2008.

  48 Elizabeth Rauscher, remarks transcribed from videotape of the Fundamental Fysiks Group reunion, November 18, 2000, San Francisco (“I had figured”). See also Elizabeth Rauscher, “List of lectures presented at the Fundamental ‘Fysiks’ Group, LBNL,” in EAR. This list matches the one reproduced in Collins and Pinch (1982), 189n4.

  Chapter 4: From to Psi

  1 Anthropologist David Hess argues that parapsychology specialists should be distinguished from New Age enthusiasts: the former often worked in laboratories and tried to establish scientific protocols while the latter engaged with occult phenomena outside the trappings of academic research. While Hess’s typology is helpful, individuals frequently moved seamlessly across those boundaries, including several members of the Fundamental Fysiks Group. Cf. Hess (1993).

  2 Elizabeth Rauscher, “Possible topics of investigation,” notes on the May 7, 1975, organizational meeting of the Fundamental Fysiks Group, in EAR. Rauscher was also fond of making maps like the one in fig. 4.1. See Rauscher (1979), 52. On the group’s interest in quantum mechanics and psi, see also Collins and Pinch (1982), chap. 4.

  3 See esp. Moore (1977); Oppenheim (1985); Owen (1990, 2004); Winter (1998); Gordin (2004), chap. 4; and Morrisson (2007).

  4 Quoted in Moore (1989), 252; see also 169–77.

  5 Jordan (1927b, 1955).

  6 Wolfgang Pauli, as quoted in Miller (2009), 162; see also chaps. 8–10.

  7 Pauli, “Science and Western thought” (1955), as translated and reprinted in Pauli (1994), 137–48, on 148. See also the other essays from the early 1950s reprinted in Pauli (1994).

  8 Anon. (1955a, b) and Price (1955). Cf. Oppenheim (1985), chap. 4; and Mauskopf and McVaugh (1980), 298–306.

  9 Members of the group routinely invoke Jung’s notion of “synchronicity” when describing their experiences; e.g., Sarfatti (1997); Sirag (2002); and Weissmann interview (2008).

  10 Sullivan (1973). At the time, California Living was the Sunday magazine associated with both the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner.

  11 Sarfatti (2002a), 47, 99. On the Stanford Research Institute, see Leslie (1993), 243–47.

  12 Dewar (1977); Puthoff (1996), esp. 65; Schnabel (1997), 86, 87, 97, 100, 200; and Kripal (2007), 340–45. Cf. Pantell and Puthoff (1969). On controversies surrounding Scientology, see esp. Sappell and Welkos (1990) and Behar (1991).

  13 Targ and Puthoff (1974) and (1977), chap. 7; Gilliam (1978a); and Schnabel (1997), chap. 9. For more skeptical accounts of these studies, see Randi (1975), esp. chaps. 3, 4, 11 and (1982), 131–45; Gardner (1976); and Marks and Kammann (1980), chaps. 6–10.

  14 Petit (1973); Bess (1973); Sullivan (1973); Anon. (1973a); and Rensberger (1974).

  15 Sarfatti (2002a), 47, 48. On Mitchell’s moon-orbiting telepathy experiment, see the unsigned, redacted Central Intelligence Agency “Memorandum for the record,” September 27, 1971, released in response to Freedom of Information Act request (CIA FOIA reference F-2009-00079); Anon. (1971); Mitchell (1974); and Mitchell with Williams (1996). On the founding of Mitchell’s institute, see also Anon. (1974a); Gardner (1976), 43; Schnabel (1997), 134; and Kripal (2007), 340, 341.

  16 Gustaitus (1975) and Wilson (1979), 131. For a more recent account of Sarfatti’s “Spectra” phone calls, see Sarfatti (2002a), 24–32. Cf. Puharich (1974).

  17 Puharich (1979a), 10, 11 (on the BBC broadcast); and Hasted, Bohm, Bastin, and O’Regan (1975). A copy of Jack Sarfatti’s original press release, entitled “Historic test of Uri Geller’s psycho-kinetic powers by physicists at Birkbeck College, University of London,” dated June 24, 1974, can be found in JAW, Sarfatti folders; it was circulated to two dozen recipients by Ira Einhorn in a package dated June 26, 1974. Most of the text was also published in Sarfatti (1974a).

  18 Sarfatti (1974a), 46 (“My personal professional judgment”); Hasted et al. (1975), 471; Sarfatti (1975a), 355 (“ambiguity in the interpretation”) and (1974b), 3 (“intrinsically nonlocal”). Sarfatti cited the February 1974 preprint of Bohm and Hiley (1975). Hasted and Bohm soon parted company on the matter of psi phenomena: Hasted delved deeper into experimental tests of phenomena like spoon bending, while Bohm wrote a few cautionary papers against over-extending his own ideas about hidden variables and nonlocality. See Hasted (1976, 1977, 1978/79, 1979); Randi (1982), 215–21; Bohm and Hiley (1976a); Sirag, Musès, and Bohm (1976), 29; and Peat (1997), 271, 272. British physicist John G. Taylor, who endorsed Geller’s psychic powers on the BBC broadcast in November 1973, likewise had a change of heart. Compare Taylor (1975a, b) with (1980).

  19 Wigner (1962). See also Jammer (1974), 498–500; and Stapp (2007a).

  20 Wigner, “Remarks on the mind-body question,” as reprinted in Wheeler and Zurek (1983), 173 (“Consciousness enters”), 176–78.

  21 Seitz, Vogt, and Weinberg (1998), 367, 383, 384; Shimony interview with Bromberg (2002), 30–36; and Freire (2007).

  22 The quotation is from I. I. Rabi. See Rigden (1987), 46.

  23 Bernstein (1991b); and Wheeler with Ford (1998), chaps. 4–6.

  24 Patton and Wheeler (1975), 560.

  25 Patton and Wheeler (1975), 560–62. Wheeler also included his stick-figure “observer” and “participator” cartoon in at least four more talks given between August 1975 and March 1976, published as Wheeler (1977), 6; see ibid., 29, 30 for a list of venues at which he delivered this talk.

  26 Wheeler (1978), 41. Based on a conference talk delivered in June 1977.

  27 Wheeler introduced this quasar variant of the delayed-choice experiment in a talk at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia in June 1980; portions were reprinted in Wheeler (1983), quotation on 192 (emphasis in original).

  28 Patton and Wheeler (1975), 564 (“gives the world the power”); and Wheeler (1983), 209 (“Acts of observer-participancy”). Wheeler’s self-observing “U” universe cartoon reappeared in Wheeler (1980), 362 and (1983), 209.

  29 On Sarfatti’s and Wolf’s repeated requests to spend their sabbaticals at Princeton, see Sarfatti to John A. Wheeler, February 28, 1973, April 29, 1973, and May 26, 1973; Fred Alan Wolf and Jack Sarfatti to Wheeler, May 7, 1973 (“We understand”), and May 25, 1973 (telegram); Wheeler to Sarfatti and Wolf, May 22, 1973, and Wheeler to Sarfatti, July 10, 1973 (“I hated so much to seem unwelcome”), all in JAW, Sarfatti folders. Wheeler first briefly introduced the idea of his “participatory universe” in Wheeler (1973), 244; and in Wheeler, Misner, and Thorne (1973), 1273. Sarfatti cited a preprint of Wheeler and Patton’s 1974 Oxford talk in Sarfatti (1975b), 279, 334n9; and in a letter to the editor of Physics Today, dated April 17, 1974, copy in JAW, Sarfatti folders. On the paucity of citations to Wheeler’s published conference talks, see Science Citation Index (1961–), s.v. “Wheeler, J. A.” On Wheeler’s interactions with experimentalists during the 1980s, see Bromberg (2008).

  30 Sarfatti (1974b), 6, 7; Sarfatti, letter to the ed
itor of Physics Today, April 13, 1974 (“Age of Aquarius” students), copy in JAW, Sarfatti folders.

  31 Sarfatti (1974b), 6, 7. Sarfatti’s thinking on the topic changed dramatically after he read Bohm and Hiley (1993). See, e.g., Levit and Sarfatti (1997); and Jack Sarfatti, email to the author, September 27, 2010.

  32 O’Regan (1974), 9, 10. Cf. Sarfatti (2002a), 57.

  33 See the letters collected under “Geller and magicians,” Science News 106 (August 3, 1974): 78, 79. On earlier magicians’ efforts at debunking spiritualist and other psychic claims, see Noakes (2008), 331; and Houdini (1924).

  34 Sarfatti (1975a), 355 (“I do not think”). See also Rensberger (1975), 59; Gardner (1976), esp. 44, 46–49; and Randi (1975).