Can the human mind influence random processes generated by a computer? For the past 25 years, researchers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, under the direction of professor emeritus Robert Jahn '51, have sought the answer to this question.
Their research suggests that the role of consciousness is not completely passive in physical reality. "We have observed very tiny but repeatable effects indicating that the mind can insert some degree of information into random event generators that makes the information not so random," Jahn said.
Jahn's visionary research in engineering anomalies has undoubtedly been shaped by his lifelong dedication to the University — not only as a professor, but also as an exceptional student and former dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Budding scholar
A baseball enthusiast, collector of children's toys and stuffed animals, and father of four Princeton graduates, Jahn began his service to University as an undergraduate in the class of 1951. He was awarded highest honors for the first degree ever granted in an engineering physics course of study that he designed — the program has been a popular B.S.E. option ever since.
According to Jahn, the late '40s and '50s were "high church for physicists," and lectures delivered by physicists Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg fascinated him.
At the graduate school, Jahn obtained an M.A. in physics in 1953 and his doctoral degree in 1955 for work analyzing the behavior of shock-waves as they pass between gases.
Full-time academic
Following faculty appointments at Lehigh University and CalTech, Jahn returned to Princeton in 1962 as an assistant professor in the aeronautical engineering department, charged with establishing a significant research program in electric propulsion for deep space flight. Jahn's project quickly gained international recognition and has provided thesis opportunities for over a hundred University students.
"I soon started teaching sophisticated courses on high-speed fluid mechanics and environmental engineering in the graduate school," Jahn said.
The University graduate gravitated up through the faculty ranks, becoming a full professors in 1967 and partaking in matters of university governance during periods of campus unrest.
"I became a spokesperson for the engineering school defending research and academic life in light of opposition to the 'military-industrial complex,'" Jahn said.
SEAS dean
Jahn's success as a teacher and ability to keep the school calm induced President Robert Goheen '40 to appoint Jahn dean of the engineering school in 1971.
"As dean, Jahn was extremely influential and had a vision to develop a great school of engineering," said ORFE professor Alain Kornhauser GS '71, with whom Jahn has co-taught a course on human-machine interaction and plays in a softball league every summer.
When Jahn took helm of the school, enrollment numbered 450 students, none of whom were female and few were from the minority groups.
"The school was a sleepy place and campus culture was isolated," Jahn said. "I sought to bring contemporary excitement to the classical engineering curriculum by setting up topical programs in engineering disciplines and social and cultural science courses in the Wilson School."
According to Kornhauser, Jahn added personnel and outreach programs which enhanced the school's diversity and doubled enrollment. Before the completion of Jahn's third term as dean in 1986, the school graduated more students than in previous years.
PEAR research
A former engineering student inspired Jahn to establish PEAR by pursuing independent work on human-machine interaction anomalies with Jahn as an adviser.
In the same vein as the original piece of independent work, the research in the lab continues to address the extremely challenging problem of the interaction of human consciousness with sensitive physical devices for which the chances of success are relatively, if not infinitesimally small.
Experiments with various random event generators are tested in the carpeted, homey five-room lab with the penultimate aim of interpreting data and eventually modeling possible resonance between the operator and the machine. Lab manager Brenda Dunne and Jahn have built the enterprise into the leading academic research lab of its kind, with a growing base of public interest.
"Jahn sees possibilities where others often won't. Progress in the PEAR lab would not be possible without mutual respect for each other's points of view," said Dunne, who complements Jahn's scientific expertise with formal training in psychology and anthropology.
While negative implications include having a machine inaccurately perform its required duty because of resonance from the operator, positive implications suggest performance enhancement in fields like athletics in which humans can benefits from "crosstalk" machines.
Controversy and implications
Despite Jahn's dedication to studying human-machine interaction, several academics have been skeptical of the fundamental scientific tenets underlying his work.
"I was totally unprepared for resistance by my community of colleagues to my research. Good scientific work without making wide claims should be respected as scholarly work," Jahn said.
He points out that the history of science has encountered many contradictions in order to further scientific wisdom. Jahn views the PEAR lab as another evolution of scientific thought that enhances, not threatens, scientific methodology and applications.
"Jahn has approached engineering anomalies research with the highest elements of scholarship and scientific inquiry." Kornhauser said. While Jahn's research involves great risk and controversy, success would have far-reaching implications.
"In addition to being a patriarch in three fields of scientific study, electric propulsion, engineering anomalies and archeoacoustics, Robert Jahn is a man of incredible integrity and compassion," Dunne said.
"The only way to convince others of PEAR's insight is for people to come in and try the experiments themselves," Jahn said about the public's perception of the PEAR lab.
"The greatest reward is that we have stimulated others to continue the research and interest," Jahn said.
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