Editing Eric Lerner

{{Short description|American plasma researcher and popular science writer}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_name         = Eric J. Lerner
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1947|05|31}}<ref name="Transactions on Plasma Science">{{cite journal |title=Force-Free Magnetic Filaments and the Cosmic Background Radiation |journal=[[IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science]]  |year=1992 |last=Lerner |first=Eric |volume=20 |issue=6 |page=935 |url=http://www.health-freedom.info:80/pdf/Force%20Free%20Magnetic%20Filaments.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905220209/http://www.health-freedom.info/pdf/Force%20Free%20Magnetic%20Filaments.pdf |archive-date=September 5, 2006 |doi=10.1109/27.199554 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |bibcode=1992ITPS...20..935L }}</ref>
| birth_place        = [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], U.S.
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| alma_mater         = [[Columbia University]]
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| website            = LPPFusion.com
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'''Eric J. Lerner''' (born May 31, 1947) is an American [[popular science]] writer and independent [[plasma (physics)|plasma]] researcher.<ref>John Wilford, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEED91E31F93BA15751C0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3 "Novel Theory Challenges The Big Bang"], ''The New York Times'', February 28, 1989</ref> He wrote the 1991 book ''The Big Bang Never Happened'', which advocates [[Hannes Alfvén]]'s [[plasma cosmology]] instead of the [[Big Bang]] theory. He is founder, president, and chief scientist of LPP Fusion.<ref name="biography" >[http://www.lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=86 Eric Lerner's biography page at Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc.]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thespaceshow.com/guest/eric-lerner|title = Eric Lerner &#124; the Space Show}}</ref>

==Professional work==

Lerner received a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in [[physics]] from [[Columbia University]]<ref>Columbia Alumni Directory, 1988 edition, p.211</ref> and started as a graduate student in physics at the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]], but left after a year due to his dissatisfaction with the mathematical rather than experimental approach there.<ref name= "Lerner">{{cite book |author=E. J. Lerner |title=The Big Bang Never Happened |publisher=Random House |location=New York and Toronto |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8129-1853-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bigbangneverhapp00lern }} pages 12 - 14, footnote on page 388, 286 - 316, 242</ref><ref>Biography at the [http://thespaceshow.com/guest.asp?q=342 Space Show] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124091938/http://thespaceshow.com/guest.asp?q=342 |date=November 24, 2006 }}, 2006</ref> He then pursued a career in popular science writing.

Lerner is an active [[Popular science|general science writer]], estimating that he has had about 600 articles published.<ref name="biography" />  He has received journalism awards between 1984 and 1993 from the Aviation Space Writers Association.{{cn|date=March 2025}} In 2006 he was a visiting scientist at the [[European Southern Observatory]] in [[Chile]].<ref>[http://www.eso.org/sci/activities/santiago/personnel/senior2006.html ESO Senior Visits in 2006], [http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/santiago/abs06/abstract2006.html activities] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524130733/http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/santiago/abs06/abstract2006.html|date=May 24, 2011}}, and [http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/santiago/abs06/index.html ESO Santiago Science Colloquia and Seminars 2006]</ref>

=== LPP Fusion ===
In 1984, he began studying [[plasma (physics)|plasma]] [[phenomena]] and laboratory fusion devices, performing experimental work on a machine called a [[dense plasma focus#Fusion power|dense plasma focus]] (DPF). [[NASA]]'s [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] has funded mainstream as well as alternative approaches to fusion, and between 1994 and 2001 NASA provided a grant to Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, the company of which Lerner was the only employee, to explore whether Lerner's alternative approach to fusion might be useful to propel spacecraft; a 2007 ''[[New York Times]]'' article noted that Lerner had not received funding from the [[United States Department of Energy]].<ref>Kenneth Chang, [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/science/27fusion.html?_r=3&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1172588880-XacSLlMti1+1/2yzSxBbsA&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin "Practical Fusion, or Just a Bubble?"], ''The New York Times'', February 27, 2007</ref><ref>[http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/23572/1/96-0007.pdf JPL Contract 959962] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719202509/http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/23572/1/96-0007.pdf |date=July 19, 2011 }}, pg 8, and JPL Contract 960283</ref> He believes that a dense plasma focus can also be used to produce useful [[aneutronic fusion]] energy.<ref name="Huyghe">Patrick Huyghe, [http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jun/29-3-ideas-that-are-pushing-the-edge-of-science "3 Ideas That Are Pushing the Edge of Science"], ''Discover Magazine'', June 2008</ref><ref>[http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14698355 A Novel Form of Fusion Power], ''[[The Economist]]'', October 22, 2009</ref> Lerner explained his "Focus Fusion" approach in a 2007 Google Tech Talk.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1518007279479871760
 | title= Focus Fusion: The Fastest Route to Cheap, Clean Energy 
 | last= Lerner | first= Eric | author-link= Eric Lerner 
 |date= October 3, 2007 | format= video  |work= Google TechTalks | access-date= January 8, 2009 }}</ref>

On November&nbsp;14, 2008, Lerner received funding for continued research, to test the scientific feasibility of Focus Fusion.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com/index.php?pr=News 
 | title= LPP Receives Major Investments, Initiates Experimental Project 
 | date= November 22, 2008 | publisher= [[Lawrenceville Plasma Physics]], Inc. 
 | access-date= January 8, 2009 }}</ref>   On January 28, 2011, LPP published preliminary results.<ref>{{cite journal | title= Theory and Experimental Program for p-B11 Fusion with the Dense Plasma Focus 
 | date= January 28, 2011 | journal= [[Journal of Fusion Energy]]
 | doi= 10.1007/s10894-011-9385-4 
 | last1= Lerner 
 | first1= Eric J. 
 | last2= Krupakar Murali 
 | first2= S. 
 | last3= Haboub 
 | first3= A. 
 | volume= 30 
 | issue= 5 
 | pages= 367–376 
 | bibcode= 2011JFuE...30..367L | s2cid= 122230379 }}</ref> In March 2012, the company published a paper saying that it had achieved temperatures of 1.8 billion degrees, beating the old record of 1.1 billion that had survived since 1978.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lerner|first=Eric J. |author2=S. Krupakar Murali |author3=Derek Shannon |author4=Aaron M. Blake |author5=Fred Van Roessel|s2cid=120207711 |title=Fusion reactions from >150 keV ions in a dense plasma focus plasmoid|journal=Physics of Plasmas|date=March 23, 2012|volume=19|issue=3|pages=032704 |doi=10.1063/1.3694746|bibcode = 2012PhPl...19c2704L }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Halper|first=Mark|title=Fusion breakthrough|url=http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/fusion-breakthrough/14516|access-date=April 1, 2012|newspaper=Smart PLanet|date=March 28, 2012}}</ref> In 2012 the company announced a collaboration with a lab at the [[Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch]] in [[Iran]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Knapp|first1=Alex|title=U.S. Company Teams With Iranian University To Develop Fusion Power|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/06/04/u-s-company-teams-with-iranian-university-to-develop-fusion-power/|work=Forbes|date=June 4, 2012}}</ref> In 2017, Lerner et al. published evidence of confined ion energies in excess of 200 keV, with the best “shot” having a mean ion energy of 240&nbsp;keV ± 20&nbsp;keV which was reported as a record for confined fusion plasmas.<ref name="Lerner et al. 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Lerner |first1=Eric J. |last2=Hassan |first2=Syed M. |last3=Karamitsos |first3=Ivana |last4=Von Roessel |first4=Fred |title=Confined ion energy &gt;200 keV and increased fusion yield in a DPF with monolithic tungsten electrodes and pre-ionization |journal=Physics of Plasmas |date=1 October 2017 |volume=24 |issue=10 |doi=10.1063/1.4989859 |bibcode=2017PhPl...24j2708L |language=en |issn=1070-664X}}</ref>

In October 2021, the company announced improved results with the latest version of its device, with reduced erosion and higher temperatures,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wang|first=Brian|title=LPP Fusion Increases Current and Reaches First Fusion Results|website=NextBigFuture.com|url=https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2021/12/174018.html|access-date=December 9, 2021|language=en-US}}</ref> but the prior month, an independent expert stated that they were not close to a commercial fusion reactor with this device.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Results are Not Even Wrong; a Detailed Analysis.|url=https://www.impedans.com/why-lawrenceville-plasma-physics-results-are-not-even-wrong-detailed-analysis|access-date=September 3, 2021|website=impedans.com}}</ref>

In March, 2023, Lerner et al. published a paper in a special issue of the ''Journal of Fusion Energy'' showing that LPPFusion led all fusion companies in achieving” the highest ratio of fusion energy generation to device energy input (wall-plug efficiency).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Focus Fusion: Overview of Progress Towards p-B11 Fusion with the Dense Plasma Focus|url=https://www.lppfusion.com/storage/s10894-023-00345-z.pdf|access-date=March 9, 2023|website=lppfusion.com}}</ref>

==''The Big Bang Never Happened''==

In his book ''The Big Bang Never Happened: A Startling Refutation of the Dominant Theory of the Origin of the Universe'' (Knopf Doubleday, 1992),<ref name=Lerner /> Lerner rejects mainstream [[Big Bang cosmology]], and instead advances a [[nonstandard cosmology|non-standard]] [[plasma cosmology]] originally proposed in the 1960s by [[Hannes Alfvén]], the 1970 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] recipient. The book appeared at a time when results from the [[Cosmic Background Explorer]] satellite were of some concern to astrophysicists who expected to see [[Cosmic microwave background radiation#Primary anisotropy|cosmic microwave background anisotropies]] but instead measured a [[blackbody]] spectrum with little variation across the sky. Lerner referred to this as evidence that the Big Bang was a failed paradigm. He also denigrated the [[dark matter#Observational evidence|observational evidence for dark matter]] and recounted a well-known cosmological feature that [[supercluster]]s are larger than the largest structures that could have formed through [[virial theorem|gravitational collapse]] in the [[age of the universe]].<ref name=Lerner />

As an alternative to the Big Bang, Lerner adopted Alfvén's model of plasma cosmology that relied on [[plasma physics]] to explain most, if not all, cosmological observations by appealing to [[electromagnetic force]]s.<ref name=Lerner /> Adopting an eternal universe,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chown |first=Marcus|title=Did the big bang really happen? |journal=New Scientist |date=July 2, 2005 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18625061.800-did-the-big-bang-really-happen.html}}</ref> Lerner's explanation of cosmological evolution relied on a model of [[thermodynamics]], based on the work of the [[ Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Chemistry prize]] winner [[Ilya Prigogine]], under which order emerges from chaos.<ref name=Lerner /><ref>{{cite book | last=Prigogine | first=Ilya | year=1984 |author2=Stengers, Isabelle | title=Order out of Chaos: Man's new dialogue with nature | publisher=Flamingo | isbn=978-0-00-654115-8}}</ref> This is in apparent defiance of the [[second law of thermodynamics]]. As a way of partially acknowledging this, Lerner asserts that away from equilibrium order can spontaneously form by taking advantage of energy flows, as argued more recently by American astrophysicist [[Eric Chaisson]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Ascent of Life |author=Michael Chorost |journal=New Scientist |issue=2848 |date=January 21, 2012 |volume=213 |pages=35–37|doi=10.1016/S0262-4079(12)60181-X |bibcode=2012NewSc.213...35C }}</ref>

== Criticism ==

Lerner's ideas have been rejected by mainstream physicists and cosmologists. In these critiques, critics have explained that, contrary to Lerner's assertions, the size of superclusters is a feature limited by subsequent observations to the [[end of greatness]] and is consistent with having arisen from a [[power spectrum]] of density fluctuations growing from the [[quantum fluctuation]]s predicted in [[cosmic inflation|inflationary models]].<ref name=Stenger /><ref name=Wright /><ref name=Penzias /> [[Anisotropy|Anisotropies]] were discovered in subsequent analysis of both the [[Cosmic Background Explorer|COBE]] and [[BOOMERanG]] experiments and were more fully characterized by the [[Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe]]<ref name=Stenger /><ref name=Wright /> and the [[Planck (spacecraft)|Planck space observatory]].

Physical cosmologists who have commented on the book have generally dismissed it.<ref name=Stenger>{{cite journal | first = Victor J. | last = Stenger | title = Is the Big Bang a Bust? | url = http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/bang.txt | journal = [[Skeptical Inquirer]] | volume = 16 | issue = 412 | date =Summer 1992 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060925150243/http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/bang.txt | archive-date = September 25, 2006 }}</ref><ref name=Penzias>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DD1F39F93BA25755C0A967958260 "Big Bang Theory Makes Sense of Cosmic Facts; No Contradiction"], ''The New York Times'', June 18, 1991</ref><ref name=Davies>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD8123CF932A3575AC0A967958260 "Did the Big Bang Happen?"], ''The New York Times'', September 1, 1991</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Feuerbacher|author2=Scranton|name-list-style=amp|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/astronomy/bigbang.html#lerner|title=Evidence for the Big Bang}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.evolutionpages.com/big_bang_no_myth.htm|title=The Big Bang is not a Myth|author=Macandrew, Alec}}</ref><ref name=Carroll>A critique of the tactics of Eric Lerner mentioning him explicitly by name appears on [[Sean M. Carroll|Sean Carroll]]'s [[blog]], [http://preposterousuniverse.blogspot.com/2004/05/doubt-and-dissent-are-not-tolerated.html ''Preposterous Universe'']</ref> In particular, American astrophysicist and cosmologist [[Edward L. Wright]] criticized Lerner for making errors of fact and interpretation, arguing that:<ref name=Wright>[[Edward L. Wright|Wright, Edward L.]] "''[http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/lerner_errors.html Errors in "The Big Bang Never Happened"]''</ref>
* Lerner's alternative model for [[Hubble's law]] is dynamically unstable
* the [[number density]] of distant [[radio astronomy|radio sources]] falsifies Lerner's explanation for the [[cosmic microwave background]]
* Lerner's explanation that the helium abundance is due to [[stellar nucleosynthesis]] fails because of the small observed abundance of heavier elements
Lerner has disputed Wright's critique.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://bigbangneverhappened.org/p25.htm | title = The Big Bang Never Happened: Dr Wright is Wrong | access-date = July 13, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160108004949/http://bigbangneverhappened.org/p25.htm | archive-date = January 8, 2016 }}</ref>

==Activism==
While at Columbia, Lerner participated in the 1965 [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Selma March]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Manoocheri|first1=Kasra |title=Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement — Eric Lerner |url=http://www.crmvet.org/vet/lernere.htm |website=crmvet.org|date=February 2007}}</ref> and helped organize the 1968 [[Columbia University protests of 1968|Columbia Student Strike]].<ref>[http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/columbia68/documents/doc18.htm "A Memorandum from the Strike Education Committee"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907191103/http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/columbia68/documents/doc18.htm |date=September 7, 2006 }}, Columbia University archives, May 4, 1968. Lists Eric Lerner as one of the committee members.</ref><ref>[http://www.columbia1968.com/eric_lerne/ Eric Lerner | Columbia University 1968]</ref>

In the 1970s, Lerner became involved in the [[National Caucus of Labor Committees]], an offshoot of the Columbia University [[Students for a Democratic Society]]. Lerner left the National Caucus in 1978, later stating in a lawsuit that he had resisted pressure from the [[U.S. Labor Party]], an organization led by [[Lyndon LaRouche]], to violate election law by channeling profits of an engineering firm to the organization.<ref name=Larouche>{{cite book |title=Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism |last=King |first=Dennis |year=1989 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-23880-9 |chapter=Chapter 32 |chapter-url=http://lyndonlarouchewatch.org/fascism32.htm |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lyndonlarouchene0000king }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| edition = Eastern| page = 1 | author = Dennis King|author2=Patricia Lynch| title = The Empire of Lyndon LaRouche| work = The Wall Street Journal| date = May 27, 1986}}</ref>

Lerner sought [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]] protection for immigrants as a member and spokesman for the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hsu |first1=Spencer S. |title=Immigrants Mistreated, Report Says |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011601463_pf.html |access-date=31 January 2024 |date=January 17, 2007|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>Eman Varoqua, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121022051014/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-103196116.html "Not Everyone Is A Terrorist"], ''The Record'' (Bergen County, NJ), December 7, 2004</ref> He participated in the [[Occupy Wall Street]] protests in 2011.<ref>Harkinson, Josh. "[http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-demands-new-deal Occupy Protesters' One Demand: A New New Deal—Well, Maybe]", ''Mother Jones'', October 18, 2011.</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://lppfusion.com/ LPPFusion]
* [https://www.focusfusion.org Focus Fusion Society]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190103073616/http://www.bigbangneverhappened.org/ The Big Bang Never Happened] (archived)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerner, Eric}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American inventors]]
[[Category:21st-century American physicists]]
[[Category:American cosmologists]]
[[Category:American plasma physicists]]
[[Category:American science writers]]
[[Category:American socialists]]
[[Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni]]
[[Category:Discover (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Pseudoscientific physicists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Brookline, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:University System of Maryland alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Brookline, Massachusetts]]