Ted Bastin
Encyclopedia
Ted Bastin was a physicist and mathematician who held doctorate degrees in both physics and mathematics from Kings College, Cambridge University, to which he won an Isaac Newton studentship. For a time, he was Visiting Fellow at Stanford University
, California and a Research Fellow, King's College
, Cambridge University, England. He also studied at Queen Mary College, London.
Among the boats stored at the Cam River boathouse, King's College, Cambridge University include "Ted" the lightweight wooden scull named after Ted Bastin, who won races in it for King's from 1950 to 1953.
Bastin’s research specialties included the foundations of physics, especially the discrete and finite aspects of quantum mechanics and relativity. He was strongly influenced as a student by Eddington's vision of the nature of the quantum.
He collaborated with David Bohm
to organize the "Quantum Theory and Beyond" colloquium at Cambridge University in July 1968, chaired by O. R. Frisch. The colloquium was sponsored by the Royal Society
, The Carnegie Institution of Science, and Theoria Inc., and resulted in a book by the same name. Bastin worked with David Bohm on other theoretical physics projects as well.
Along with Frederick Parker-Rhodes
and Clive W. Kilmister
, Ted Bastin is noted for the discovery of, and research on applications of, the combinatorial hierarchy
. The combinatorial hierarchy plays an important role in bit-string physics, to which Bastin has also contributed. While at the Cambridge Language Research Unit (founded by Margaret Masterman
) he and Parker-Rhodes used Maurice Wilkes' EDSAC
to compute the combinatorial hierarchy.
Bastin was a founding member, with H. Pierre Noyes
and C. W. Kilmister, of the Alternative Natural Philosophy Association (ANPA), Cambridge, England. Their "first meeting was held in the fall of 1979 at Prof. Kilmister's "Red Tiles Cottage " near Lewes, and near Thomas Paine
's birthplace". The organization was joined in 1980 by A. F. Parker-Rhodes, David McGoveran
, and John Amson
, among others. Meetings were held annually at King's College, Cambridge University.
Bastin was also, with Margaret Masterman
, Dorothy Emmet
and R. B. Braithwaite
a founding member of the Epiphany Philosophers in Cambridge, a society founded to pursue links between science and religion, and which was based on the journal Theoria to Theory.
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, California and a Research Fellow, King's College
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
, Cambridge University, England. He also studied at Queen Mary College, London.
Among the boats stored at the Cam River boathouse, King's College, Cambridge University include "Ted" the lightweight wooden scull named after Ted Bastin, who won races in it for King's from 1950 to 1953.
Bastin’s research specialties included the foundations of physics, especially the discrete and finite aspects of quantum mechanics and relativity. He was strongly influenced as a student by Eddington's vision of the nature of the quantum.
He collaborated with David Bohm
David Bohm
David Joseph Bohm FRS was an American-born British quantum physicist who contributed to theoretical physics, philosophy, neuropsychology, and the Manhattan Project.-Youth and college:...
to organize the "Quantum Theory and Beyond" colloquium at Cambridge University in July 1968, chaired by O. R. Frisch. The colloquium was sponsored by the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, The Carnegie Institution of Science, and Theoria Inc., and resulted in a book by the same name. Bastin worked with David Bohm on other theoretical physics projects as well.
Along with Frederick Parker-Rhodes
Frederick Parker-Rhodes
Frederick Parker-Rhodes was an English linguist, plant pathologist, computer scientist, mathematician, mystic, and mycologist.-Background & education:...
and Clive W. Kilmister
Clive W. Kilmister
Clive W. Kilmister was a British applied mathematician who specialized in the mathematical foundations of physics, especially quantum mechanics and relativity. He was one of the discoverers of the combinatorial hierarchy, along with A. F. Parker-Rhodes and E. W. Bastin...
, Ted Bastin is noted for the discovery of, and research on applications of, the combinatorial hierarchy
Combinatorial hierarchy
Combinatorial hierarchy is a mathematical structure of bit-strings generated by an algorithm based on discrimination . It was originally discovered by A.F. Parker-Rhodes in the 1960s, and is interesting because of physical interpretations that relate it to quantum mechanics...
. The combinatorial hierarchy plays an important role in bit-string physics, to which Bastin has also contributed. While at the Cambridge Language Research Unit (founded by Margaret Masterman
Margaret Masterman
Margaret Masterman was a British linguist and philosopher, most known for her pioneering work in the field of computational linguistics and especially machine translation.- Biography :...
) he and Parker-Rhodes used Maurice Wilkes' EDSAC
EDSAC
Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was an early British computer. The machine, having been inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England...
to compute the combinatorial hierarchy.
Bastin was a founding member, with H. Pierre Noyes
H. Pierre Noyes
H. Pierre Noyes is an American nuclear physicist. He has been a member of the faculty at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University since 1962...
and C. W. Kilmister, of the Alternative Natural Philosophy Association (ANPA), Cambridge, England. Their "first meeting was held in the fall of 1979 at Prof. Kilmister's "Red Tiles Cottage " near Lewes, and near Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
's birthplace". The organization was joined in 1980 by A. F. Parker-Rhodes, David McGoveran
David McGoveran
David McGoveran is a consultant, researcher, lecturer, and industry analyst to the software industry; author of numerous books and articles in the fields of relational databases, transaction processing, business intelligence, business process management, mathematics, and physics; and an inventor...
, and John Amson
John Amson
John Amson served as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia from 1750 to 1751....
, among others. Meetings were held annually at King's College, Cambridge University.
Bastin was also, with Margaret Masterman
Margaret Masterman
Margaret Masterman was a British linguist and philosopher, most known for her pioneering work in the field of computational linguistics and especially machine translation.- Biography :...
, Dorothy Emmet
Dorothy Emmet
Dorothy Mary Emmet was a British philosopher and head of Manchester University's philosophy department for over twenty years...
and R. B. Braithwaite
R. B. Braithwaite
Richard Bevan Braithwaite was an English philosopher who specialized in the philosophy of science, ethics, and the philosophy of religion. He was a lecturer in moral science at the University of Cambridge from 1934 to 1953, then Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy there from 1953 to 1967...
a founding member of the Epiphany Philosophers in Cambridge, a society founded to pursue links between science and religion, and which was based on the journal Theoria to Theory.
Publications
- A Sequential Logic for Information Structuring in "Mathematics of a Hierarchy of Brouwerian Operations" with A. F. Parker-Rhodes (Ft. Belvoir Defense Technical Information Center 01 MAY 1965).
- Quantum Theory and Beyond. Ted Bastin ed. Cambridge University Press, 1971 (papers from the Quantum Theory and Beyond colloquium). ISBN 052107956X
- The Origin of Discrete Particles (Series on Knots and Everything, vol. 42) by T. Bastin and C. W. Kilmister (Aug 7, 2009)
- Combinatorial Physics (Series on Knots and Everything, vol. 9) by Ted Bastin and C. W. Kilmister (Oct 1995) ISBN 9810222122
- "A Clash of Paradigms in Physics", in The Encyclopedia of Ignorance (Ronald Duncan and Miranda Weston-Smith eds.) 1978 ISBN 0671790870