Henry Pierce Stapp (born March 23, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American

mathematical physicist Mathematical physics refers to the development of mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the developmen ...

, known for his work in

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...

, particularly the development of axiomatic

S-matrix theory ''S''-matrix theory was a proposal for replacing local quantum field theory as the basic principle of elementary particle physics. It avoided the notion of space and time by replacing it with abstract mathematical properties of the ''S''-matrix ...

, the proofs of strong nonlocality properties, and the place of free will in the "orthodox" quantum mechanics of

John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...

.Kaiser, D. (2011). ''How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture and the Quantum Revival''. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 15-17, p. 101, p. 254.

Biography

Stapp received his PhD in

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, under the supervision of Nobel Laureates

Emilio Segrè Emilio Gino Segrè (1 February 1905 – 22 April 1989) was an Italian-American physicist and Nobel laureate, who discovered the elements technetium and astatine, and the antiproton, a subatomic antiparticle, for which he was awarded the Nobe ...

and

Owen Chamberlain Owen Chamberlain (July 10, 1920 – February 28, 2006) was an American physicist who shared with Emilio Segrè the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the antiproton, a sub-atomic antiparticle. Biography Born in San Francisco, Cali ...

. In 1958, Stapp was invited by

Wolfgang Pauli Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (; ; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics ...

to ETH Zurich to work with him personally on basic problems in quantum mechanics. When Pauli died in December 1958, Stapp studied von Neumann's book, and on the basis of that work composed an article entitled "Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics", which was not submitted for publication; but the title became the title of his 1993 book. In 1969 Stapp was invited by

Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent serie ...

to work with him at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. In 1976 Stapp was invited by J.A. Wheeler to work with him on problems in the foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Dr. Stapp has published many papers pertaining to the non-local aspects of quantum mechanics and Bell's theorem, including two books published by Springer-Verlag, and a third one in progress. Stapp has worked also in a number of conventional areas of high energy physics, including analysis of the scattering of polarized protons, parity violation, and S-matrix theory.

Research

Some of Stapp's work concerns the implications of quantum mechanics (QM). He has argued for the relevance of QM to

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

and

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

. Stapp favors the idea that quantum wave functions collapse only when they interact with consciousness as a consequence of "orthodox" quantum mechanics. He argues that quantum wave functions collapse when conscious minds select one among the alternative quantum possibilities. His hypothesis of how mind may interact with matter via quantum processes in the brain differs from that of Penrose and Hameroff. While they postulate quantum computing in the microtubules in brain neurons, Stapp postulates a more global collapse, a 'mind like' wave-function collapse that exploits certain aspects of the

quantum Zeno effect The quantum Zeno effect (also known as the Turing paradox) is a feature of quantum-mechanical systems allowing a particle's time evolution to be slowed down by measuring it frequently enough with respect to some chosen measurement setting. Somet ...

within the synapses. Stapp's view of the neural correlate of attention is explained in his book, ''Mindful Universe: Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer'' (2007). Stapp has claimed that consciousness is fundamental to the universe. In this book he credits

's ''Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics'' (1955, 1932) with providing an "orthodox" quantum mechanics demonstrating mathematically the essential role of quantum physics in the mind. Stapp has taken interest in the work of Alfred North Whitehead. He has proposed what he calls a "revised Whiteheadianism". He has also written a chapter "Whiteheadian Process and Quantum Theory" (pp. 92–102) in the book ''Physics and Whitehead: Quantum, Process, and Experience'' (2003). His philosophy has been described as being influenced by both Heisenberg's physical

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

and Bohr's

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected t ...

. A form of panpsychism Philosopher Gordon Globus noted that "Stapp unhesitatingly descends into panexperientialism". Stapp has co-authored papers with Jeffrey M. Schwartz. Schwartz has connected the work of Stapp with the concept of "mental force" and spiritual practices of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

Reception

Stapp's work has drawn criticism from scientists such as David Bourget and Danko Georgiev. Recent papers and a book by Georgiev criticize Stapp's model in two aspects: (1) The mind in Stapp's model does not have its own

wavefunction A wave function in quantum physics is a mathematical description of the quantum state of an isolated quantum system. The wave function is a complex-valued probability amplitude, and the probabilities for the possible results of measurements ...

density matrix In quantum mechanics, a density matrix (or density operator) is a matrix that describes the quantum state of a physical system. It allows for the calculation of the probabilities of the outcomes of any measurement performed upon this system, using ...

, but nevertheless can act upon the brain using projection operators. Such usage is not compatible with standard quantum mechanics because one can attach any number of ghostly minds to any point in space that act upon physical quantum systems with any projection operators. Therefore, Stapp's model does not build upon "the prevailing principles of physics", but negates them. (2) Stapp's claim that quantum Zeno effect is robust against environmental decoherence directly contradicts a basic theorem in

quantum information theory Quantum information is the information of the quantum state, state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information re ...

according to which acting with projection operators upon the density matrix of a quantum system can never decrease the

Von Neumann entropy In physics, the von Neumann entropy, named after John von Neumann, is an extension of the concept of Gibbs entropy from classical statistical mechanics to quantum statistical mechanics. For a quantum-mechanical system described by a density matrix ...

of the system, but can only increase it. Stapp has responded to Bourget and Georgiev stating that the allegations of errors are incorrect.Stapp, H. (2012).
Reply to a Critic: "Mind Efforts, Quantum Zeno Effect and Environmental Decoherence
. ''NeuroQuantology'' 10 (4): 601-605.

Selected publications

*Stapp, H; Schwartz, J. M; Beauregard, M. (2005). ''Quantum theory in neuroscience and psychology: A neurophysical model of mind-brain interaction''. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B. 360 (1458): 1309-1327
Full paper
*Stapp, H; Schwartz, J. M; Beauregard, M. (2004). ''The volitional influence of the mind on the brain, with special reference to emotional self-regulation''. In Beauregard, M. (Ed.). ''Consciousness, emotional self-regulation, and the brain'', Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company, Chapter 7. *Stapp, H. (2009). ''Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics (The Frontiers Collection)''. Springer. *Stapp, H. (2011). ''Mindful Universe: Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer''. Springer. *Stapp, H. (2017). ''Quantum Theory and Free Will: How Mental Intentions Translate into Bodily Actions''. Springer.

References

External links

Stapp at the Chopra Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapp, Henry 1928 births American consciousness researchers and theorists Living people Quantum mind Quantum physicists University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Michigan alumni American mathematicians