David Bohm (1917 - 1992)
Young D. Bohm
David Bohm was one of the world's greatest quantum mechanical physicists and philosophers, deeply influenced by both J. Krishnamurti and Albert Einstein.
Born in Wiles-Barre, PA, on December 20, 1917, he studied under Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, received his B.Sc. degree from Pennsylvania State College in 1939 and his Ph.D. in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1943. He was the last graduate student to study with Robert Oppenheimer at U.C. in the 1940s, where he remained as a research physicist after Oppenheimer left for Los Alamos to work on the atomic bomb. He worked on the Theory of Plasma and on the Theory of Synchroton and Syndrocyclotrons until 1947. From 1947-1951 he taught at Princeton University as an Assistant Professor and worked on Plasmas, Theory of Metals, Quantum Mechanics and Elementary Particles.
Blacklisted by Senator Joe McCarthy's witch-hunt trials while teaching at Princeton, Bohm left the U.S. rather than testify against his colleagues. He subsequently became Professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Technion of Haifa, Israel, and at Birkbeck College, University of London; Research Fellow at Bristol University; and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990. Bohm was a member of the Royal Academy, the originator of the causal interpretation of quantum theory, and the author of a famous text on quantum mechanics and of numerous articles and other books. His best-known recent work was "Wholeness and the Implicate Order." He wrote his classic book, Quantum Theory, in an attempt to understand quantum theory from Niels Bohr's point of view. After completing the book and communicating with Einstein on it, Bohm remained unsatisfied with the theory. Bohm's challenge to the conventional understanding of quantum theory has led scientists to re-examine what it is they are doing and to question the nature of their theories and their scientific methodology.
Bohm lived in London and died in 1992.
Born in Wiles-Barre, PA, on December 20, 1917, he studied under Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, received his B.Sc. degree from Pennsylvania State College in 1939 and his Ph.D. in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1943. He was the last graduate student to study with Robert Oppenheimer at U.C. in the 1940s, where he remained as a research physicist after Oppenheimer left for Los Alamos to work on the atomic bomb. He worked on the Theory of Plasma and on the Theory of Synchroton and Syndrocyclotrons until 1947. From 1947-1951 he taught at Princeton University as an Assistant Professor and worked on Plasmas, Theory of Metals, Quantum Mechanics and Elementary Particles.
Blacklisted by Senator Joe McCarthy's witch-hunt trials while teaching at Princeton, Bohm left the U.S. rather than testify against his colleagues. He subsequently became Professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Technion of Haifa, Israel, and at Birkbeck College, University of London; Research Fellow at Bristol University; and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990. Bohm was a member of the Royal Academy, the originator of the causal interpretation of quantum theory, and the author of a famous text on quantum mechanics and of numerous articles and other books. His best-known recent work was "Wholeness and the Implicate Order." He wrote his classic book, Quantum Theory, in an attempt to understand quantum theory from Niels Bohr's point of view. After completing the book and communicating with Einstein on it, Bohm remained unsatisfied with the theory. Bohm's challenge to the conventional understanding of quantum theory has led scientists to re-examine what it is they are doing and to question the nature of their theories and their scientific methodology.
Bohm lived in London and died in 1992.