Alex Hankey
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{{notability|Academics|date=September 2014}}
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{{Infobox person
| name = Alex Hankey
|birth_date = {{birth-date and age|18 August 1947}}
| image =
| alma_mater = Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Trinity College, Cambridge
}}
Alexander Maurice Alers Hankey (born 18 August 1947), known as Alex Hankey, is a theoretical physicist phd from Boston University, trained at Massachusetts Institute of Technology{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/scientific-theories-collapse-with-new-evidence-says-yoga-expert/article4216136.ece |title=Scientific theories collapse with new evidence, says yoga expert |author= |work=The Hindu |date=19 December 2012 |accessdate=16 December 2014}} and Cambridge University.{{cite web |url=http://www.yogalife.co.in/guest-speakers/ |title=Yogalife |publisher=Yogalife.co.in |accessdate=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216213235/http://www.yogalife.co.in/guest-speakers/ |archive-date=2014-12-16 |url-status=dead }} He was a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.{{cite web |url=http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-1259.pdf |title=TRICRITICAL POINTS IN MULTICOMPONENT FLUID MIXTURES: A GEOMETRIC INTERPRETATION |publisher=Slac.stanford.edu |accessdate=16 December 2014}} Deeply interested in Vedanta, Yoga, and Ayurveda, he played a vital role in setting up Maharishi University of ManagementJames R. Lewis, Olav Hammer, Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science, BRILL, 2010, p. 353. and later on became a professor at it, where he taught the first undergraduate course in philosophy of science. His current work relates to applying a combination of philosophical arguments and knowledge of Vedic sciences to solve the problems within modern science, thereby refining the foundations of physics, biology, and information theory.
Education and career
Hankey was educated at Rugby School, Warwickshire,[http://www.thepeerage.com/p43040.htm#i430394 Hon. Alexander Maurice Alers Hankey] accessdate=10 August 2015 and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he attained a first{{clarify|date=August 2015}} in Natural Sciences Tripos. Specializing in theoretical physics, he moved to MIT, to do a PhD under Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg{{Cite web |url=http://cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/417/662 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-06-27 |archive-date=2014-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826120244/http://cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/417/662 |url-status=dead }} and Eugene Stanley{{cite web |url=http://polymer.bu.edu/hes/vitahes-messina.pdf |title=H. Eugene Stanley — Curriculum Vitae & Selected Publications — 9 September 2014 |publisher=Polymer.bu.edu |accessdate=16 December 2014}} in the area of critical phenomena. He obtained his PhD in 1972 from Boston University, and thereafter he authored/co-authored many papers on the same{{clarify|reason=on what?|date=July 2022}},{{cite journal | last1=Chang | first1=T. S. | last2=Hankey | first2=Alex | last3=Stanley | first3=H. Eugene | title=Generalized Scaling Hypothesis in Multicomponent Systems. I. Classification of Critical Points by Order and Scaling at Tricritical Points | journal=Physical Review B | publisher=American Physical Society (APS) | volume=8 | issue=1 | date=1973-07-01 | issn=0556-2805 | doi=10.1103/physrevb.8.346 | pages=346–364| bibcode=1973PhRvB...8..346C }}{{cite journal | last1=Hankey | first1=Alex | last2=Stanley | first2=H. Eugene | last3=Chang | first3=T. S. | title=Geometric Predictions of Scaling at Tricritical Points | journal=Physical Review Letters | publisher=American Physical Society (APS) | volume=29 | issue=5 | date=1972-07-31 | issn=0031-9007 | doi=10.1103/physrevlett.29.278 | pages=278–281| bibcode=1972PhRvL..29..278H }} which now have resurfaced as applications to criticality in biosystems.H. E. Stanley, A. Hankey, and M. H. Lee, "Scaling, Transformation Methods and Universality," in Critical Phenomena: Proceedings of the 1970 Varenna Summer School, edited by M. S. Green (Academic Press, New York, 1971), pp. 237–264.
Working as an assistant professor at the Maharishi International University, Hankey developed approaches to Ayurveda, Jyotish, Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta. He then became visiting professor at Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana,{{cite web |url=http://svyasa.edu.in/academics/faculty/ |title=Faculty |publisher=Svyasa.edu.in |accessdate=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211071656/http://svyasa.edu.in/academics/faculty/ |archive-date=11 December 2014 |url-status=dead }} before becoming a distinguished professor in yoga and physical science there. He founded the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine{{cite web |url=http://www.jaim.in/editorialboard.asp |work=Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine |title=About us |publisher=Jaim.in |accessdate=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103072149/http://jaim.in/editorialboard.asp |archive-date=3 November 2014 |url-status=dead }} and is on the editorial boards of many leading journals in the field.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} He has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and many expository articles for a general audience.
Research and outreach
Taking inputs from Vedic sciences, Hankey tries to resolve problems in theoretical physics like the nature of the Hawking-Penrose singularity, "holistic" processes in physics and biology, the interpretation of quantum theory, the origins of thermodynamics, the implications of dispersion relations and analyticity. He has developed a new complexity-based theory of cognition, and a Vedic approach to understanding quantum theory with new extensions of that theory.{{cite web |url=http://www.biharyoga.net/world-yoga-convention/wyc-speaker-dr-alex-hankey/ |title=WYC Speaker |publisher=Biharyofa.net |accessdate=16 December 2014}} Due to his diverse research interests, he has been a guest speaker at many international and national conferences,{{cite web |url=http://www.foundationsofmind.org/blog.html |title=Foundations of Mind Conference 2014, Berkeley • Blog |publisher=Foundationsofmind.org |accessdate=16 December 2014}} and has been featured in the news{{cite web|url=http://www.mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=365679 |title=Mangalorean.com - Mangalore News Articles, Classifieds to Around the World |publisher=Mangalorean.com |accessdate=16 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216221103/http://www.mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=365679 |archivedate=16 December 2014 }} several times for promoting traditional knowledge, introducing preventative health programs in developed societies, etc.,
Hankey lives in Bangalore, India, where he guides PhD research on yoga, meditation, the mind-body connection, and electronic measurement of holistic aspects of organism function.
His primary student, Dr. Ameya Krishna B, is a scientist in Nanotechnology at the MESA+ Institute of Nanotechnology in Enschede, the Netherlands, and is the co-founder of Indus Healthcare in Bangalore, India. They together represented India at the Houses of Commons in the British Parliament in June 2019 and spoke about indigenous medical sciences, integrative medicine, and Yoga. They argued that natural systems of medicine and minimal use of chemical intervention could be a sustainable means to healthier populations, reducing the burden on National Health Systems.
References
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Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni