The Physics Conferences

The Annual Physics Conferences

For ten years the Werner Erhard Foundation produced an annual theoretical physics conference that brought together leading scientists from all over the world to address the critical issues and problems confronting work at the forefront of their fields. The conferences were attended by the leading thinkers in the field. Some of the discussions later evolved into what are now leading edge theories in physics. One of the conferences attended by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Susskind is discussed in this video:

"Werner Erhard told Dr.Robert W. Fuller that he wanted to host a new kind of conference, not just run-of-the-mill meetings: the kind of a conference that would ‘actually make some difference to the physics community’.” From: How The Hippies Saved Physics by David Kaiser....

Participants in the first est Foundation Physics Conference in 1977 included Richard Feynman, John Wheeler, Sydney Coleman and Leonard Susskind. ... Read about the First Physics Conference in 1977

The 7th physics conference in January 1983 was chaired by Dr. Douglas Scalapino of the Institute for Theoretical Physics UC Santa Barbara on the topic of “Numerical Simulation of Quantum Systems”

Over the ten years the Werner Erhard Foundation sponsored the Physics Conferences other participants included Stephen Hawking and Gerard t'Hooft.

"The est backed physics conferences developed into a robust annual tradition. The second meeting, held in January 1978 on quantum gravity, attracted such luminaries as Stephen Hawking...The 1979 meeting on phase transitions, focusing on how quantum theory can describe the shifting boundary between order and disorder at the atomic scale, such as ice melting into water, likewise spurred important results. Participants at the meeting thanked Erhard and the est foundation for facilitating inspiring discussions in an article published in the prestigious Physical Review Letters. And so it went: every year for a decade, the est foundation's physics conferences attracted star after star of the physics firmament," from David Kaiser's book, How The Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture and Quantum Revival.

Physicists at Erhard's Second Annual Physics Conferenceheld at the Franklin House in January 1978 (photo courtesy of David Kaiser)

 

 

General Systems Theory Conference: Construction of Realities sponsored by Werner Erhard Foundation – 1977            

Werner Erhard:  Epistemological and Contextual Contributions of est to General Systems Theory 

General Systems Theory Conference: Construction of Realities

Stephen Hawking Cracks the Black Hole Paradox

Black Holes and Scientific Standoffs

Lost in Space

The War Over The Black Hole (in German)

The Black Hole Wars by Leonard Susskind

Review of "How The Hippies Saved Physics"