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John Hagelin (June 9, 1954) is a theoretical physicist specializing in superstring theory, a practitioner and teacher of Transcendental Meditation and yogic flying, an electronic designer of high-end audio equipment and was a candidate for President of the United States three times. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He is a follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Hagelin was a co-founder of the Natural Law Party, an entity created by the Maharishi's followers. Hagelin was its Presidential candidate in 1992, 1996 and 2000. In the 2000 Presidential election, Hagelin was also nominated by the Perot faction of the Reform Party, which disputed the nomination of Pat Buchanan. After a legal battle with the supporters of Buchanan, the Federal Election Commission ruled that Buchanan was the official candidate of the Reform Party in September 2000 and hence eligible for federal election funds. As part of the ruling, the Reform convention that nominated Hagelin was declared invalid and he lost the Reform spot on state ballots to Buchanan. He remained on several state ballots, however, as the Natural Law Party nominee.
Hagelin's Presidential electoral results:
1992 - Ballot status in 32 states - 39,000 votes - 0.04%.
1996 - Ballot status in 44 states - 110,000 votes - 0.1%.
2000 - Ballot status in 39 states - 83,000 votes - 0.08%.
Hagelin's Vice Presidential runningmate in 1992 and 1996 was Dr. Michael Tompkins, a co-founder of the US Natural Law Party. His Vice Presidential runningmate in 2000 was Nat Goldhaber, a wealthy businessman and longtime associate of the Maharishi.
In the 2004 primary elections, Hagelin endorsed Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich. When the Maharishi directed his followers to close all of the world-wide Natural Law Parties, the US NLP shut down in April 2004. Hagelin then joined the Maharishi's new movement: the United States Peace Government.
1975
- Bachelor of Arts Dartmouth College
- Masters of Arts Dartmouth College
- Ph.D. in physics Harvard University where he studied under Howard Georgi,
- Publishes a number of peer-reviewed papers in particle physics dealing with supersymmetry and grand unification theory.
- Researcher at CERN (the European Center for Particle Physics) in Switzerland
- SLAC (the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center).
- moves to Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, IA and founded a graduate program in Theoretical Physics.
- After a series of discussions with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the potential relationship between Physics and Vedic Cosmology, Hagelin made some preliminary modifications in Flipped SU(5) Superstring Theory to make it more in-tune with Vedic philosophy, which coincidentally also made the theory more robust from a Western scientific perspective. He contacted John Ellis of CERN with this information who then contacted Dimitri Nanopoulos and the three published many papers on the subject over the next several years.
- Founds the Natural Law Party in the USA
- receives the Kilby Award, for scientists who have made "major contributions to society through their applied research in the fields of science and technology". The award states it is for "a scientist in the tradition of Einstein, Jeans, Bohr and Eddington".
- Recipient of an Ig Nobel Prize, which is for "achievements" that "cannot, or should not, be reproduced", i.e., for pseudoscience. In his case the prize was awarded for his experimental conclusion that 4,000 meditators sent to Washington, DC for the Summer, caused an 18 percent decrease in crime in that city.
- Last published Physics research
- Publishes * study on meditation's effect on crime in Washington, DC.
Present Day
- Professor of Physics and Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management, and Minister of Science and Technology of the Global Country of World Peace.
Hagelin has a keen ear and derives much enjoyment from high end audio equipment. He had various insights on how to improve the sound quality of digital to audio (D-to-A) conversion from compact disc playback. Working with Age of Enlightenment audio he co-designed a high end D-to-A system that has been commercially marketed.
Hagelin was married to Margaret Cohig of Vancouver Canada in the 1980s and was then divorced. The couple had no children. He is now single.
Best performances
Hagelin performed exceptionally well in Jefferson County, Iowa, which contains Fairfield, the closest town to the area where Hagelin lives. He received 23.94% in 1992, 22.82% in 1996, and 16.31% in 2000.
In 2000, Hagelin received over 30 percent of the vote in the precinct that serves northern and eastern Ketchum, Idaho. However, Hagelin received 1.07% of the vote or less in all other precincts.
Further reading
- Hagelin, J.S., Rainforth, M.V., Orme-Johnson, D.W., Cavanaugh, K. L., Alexander, C.N., Shatkin, S.F., Davies, J.L, Hughes, A.O, and Ross, E. 1999. Effects of group practice of the Transcendental Meditation program on preventing violent crime in Washington D.C.: Results of the National Demonstration Project, June-July, 1993. Social Indicators Research, 47(2): 153-201.
External links
- Official site
- Podcast on physics and consciousness
- * Kilby Award past laureates - listing John Hagelin
- David Lynch and Transcendental Meditation
- Physicians Speak on Transcendental Meditation
- Leadership and Transcendental Meditation
1954 births Living people People from Pittsburgh Dartmouth College alumni Harvard University alumni United States presidential candidates
"John Hagelin"