Alan Hammond Nichols (born February 14, 1930) is an American attorney, author, explorer and authority on sacred mountains. He was the 42nd president of

The Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

Life

Nichols was educated at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

receiving a BA and election to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

in 1951. From 1951 to 1954, he saw active service in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

with the 47th Infantry Division of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, mustering out as a lieutenant with a commendation medal with four clusters. Back to civilian life, Nichols returned to

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

to study law getting his JD in 1955. As a first-year law student he was selected for the Board of Editors of the

Stanford Law Review The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produces six ...

. After passing the bar, Nichols practiced law in the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

area for over 50 years specializing in business, banking, finance, and non-profit companies. During this time he was actively involved in the governance of community organizations most notably the

San Francisco Unified School District San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), established in 1851, is the only public school district within the City and County of San Francisco, and the first in the state of California. Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Educa ...

(SFUSD),

City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a State school#United States, public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local ...

Prescott College Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona. History In 1965, the Ford Foundation brought together a group of educators from around the United States. Prescott College was the result of this gathering. The college was originall ...

, Cathedral (Elementary) School, Webb (High) School, the graduate school of California College, and the Ewald Foundation. During his tenure as president of SFUSD he was named respondent in the landmark 1974 civil rights case

Lau v. Nichols ''Lau v. Nichols'', 414 U.S. 563 (1974), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously decided that the lack of supplemental language instruction in public school for students with limited English proficiency violated the ...

, where the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

found for the students. AlanNicholsTibet2008

Nichols has been active in campaigning and fund raising for the

Republican party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

in his home state of California. In 1990, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress from the

5th District District 5, 5 District or 5th District may refer to: Europe * District 5 (Zürich) * District 5, Düsseldorf * V District, Turku * Districts of Malta#District 5, District 5, an electoral district of Malta * Districts of Malta#District 5 2, Distric ...

of California against Democrat

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

. Throughout his life his interest in spirituality, religion and culture have inspired Nichols to travel the world and in doing so to attain many notable firsts. Among these, in 1978 when

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

opened the Tibet Autonomous Region for tourism he was the first Westerner to have permission to make pilgrimages to the sacred Tibetan sites of

Mount Kailash Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It h ...

and

Lake Manasarovar Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The l ...

. He has bicycled the entire 10,300 miles of the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

from

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Xi’an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqing ...

, a journey completed in four legs beginning in 1989 and concluding in 2005. In 2010 and 2012 he was the first to lead expeditions into little traveled areas of

Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

and China in search of the tomb of the great Mongol emperor

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

."Explorer plans hunt for Genghis Khan's long-lost tomb"
Koprowski, Gene J. Fox News. November 18, 2013. Nichols holds an honorary doctor of science degree from California College of Podiatric Medicine. He resides in

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

, California, with his wife Rebecca "Becky" Rygh-Nichols.

Selected publications

Nichols' written works include: Non-fiction *Nichols, Alan H. & Rogers, Harold E. (1965). Water for California: Planning, Law & Practice, Finance. San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney.
Hathi Trust Digital Library
. *Nichols, Alan (1988, March) "The Xinjiang-Tibet Mountain Bike Expedition." The Explorers Journal. Volume 66, Number 1. *Nichols, Alan H., Nichols, Nancy A. editor (1991). Journey: A Bicycle Odyssey through Central Asia. San Francisco: J.D. Huff & Company. . *Nichols, Alan H., Nichols, Nancy A., editor (1992). Letters Home from the Lafayette Flying Corps. San Francisco: J.D. Huff & Company. *Nichols, Alan H. (2002). Travels with Annie. Sacred Mountain Press. *Nichols, Alan H., editor (2003). Curriculum Guide for the Arts. The Ewald Foundation

*Nichols, Alan H. (2003/4, Winter). "Cycling the Silk Road: A Central Asian Adventure." The Explorers Journal. Volume 84, Number 4. Under pen name *Hammond, Alan (1978). A Gift from the Master. Las Vegas, NV: Illuminated Way Press. . *Hammond, Alan (1979). To Climb a Sacred Mountain: One Man's Search for God Atop the Holy Mountains of the World. Las Vegas, NV: Illuminated Way Press. As contributor *Fok, Pat & Terrill, Ross (1974). Faces of China: Tomorrow, Today, Yesterday. Great Britain: Michael Joseph Limited. Contribution: Text on sacred mountains. *Nichols, Nancy Ann (1991). San Quentin: Inside the Walls. San Francisco: San Quentin Museum Association. Contribution: Pictures, stories and history. Fiction *Nichols, Alan (2000). Adventures in Time (Poems from the 20th Century). Belvedere, CA: The Rygh Corporation. (c) Alan Nichols. Under pen name *Hammond, Alan (1962). San Francisco Commuter. Poems. San Francisco: Pendragon Press. *Hammond, Alan (2011). All's Fair in Love and Law: Small Town Tales of Life, Laughter and Litigation. Novel. United Kingdom: Orion Publishing.

References

External links

The Explorers Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Alan 1930 births American explorers American lawyers Living people People from Palo Alto, California American male writers