Robert Lee Park (January 16, 1931 – April 29, 2020) was an American professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a former director of public information at the Washington office of the American Physical Society. Park was most noted for his critical commentaries on alternative medicine and pseudoscience, as well as his criticism of how legitimate science is distorted or ignored by the media, some scientists, and public policy advocates as expressed in his book Voodoo Science. He was also noted for his preference for robotic over crewed space exploration.

Early life

Park was born in 1931 in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a lawyer and a farmer in southern Texas, He entered the Air Force in 1951 and served (among other places) at Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, New Mexico until 1956. When the Air Force sent him to radar school, he discovered a passion for physics.

Park obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics at the University of Texas at Austin in 1958 and 1960, and his Ph.D. in physics at Brown University in 1964. efforts to colonize space,

Since 2013, Park has been listed on the Advisory Council of the National Center for Science Education.

Park wrote a column, What's New, which appeared on the University of Maryland's website. It featured discussions on topics such as science news, space exploration, energy, the government in science, pseudoscience, alternative medicine, the creation–evolution controversy, and nuclear weapons. Park has also expressed his opinion that Wikipedia is a target for misuse by the "purveyors of pseudoscience", though he has also stated that he finds the site to be both indispensable and "cool". In 2009 Park gave a public lecture at Dartmouth College on Malthusian overpopulation and the environment. He called for the distribution of the birth control pill, "arguably the most important technological development in history", to reduce fertility rates in developing nations. Park has criticized Texas A&M University's Trotter Prize for being awarded to creationist and intelligent design advocate William A. Dembski, whom Park calls "one of the nation's top pseudoscientists", for inappropriately forcing religion and science together.

Books

In 2000 Park published the book Voodoo Science, which addressed and criticized topics such as alternative medicine, telepathy and homeopathy. Reviewing the book for The New York Times, Ed Regis compared it positively to the 1957 book by Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, calling Voodoo Science a "worthy successor" and praising it for explaining why various purportedly scientific claims were in fact impossible.

Science fiction author Charles Platt reviewed the book for The Washington Post, criticizing it for citing news stories as the inspiration for his criticisms and using ad hominem attacks against individuals criticized rather than performing a more thorough investigation of the topics, and speaking with the actual researchers. This was followed by a number of letters to the editor criticizing Platt for bias.

In 2010 Park published his second book, Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science. Publishers Weekly called the book "disjointed", unfavorably comparing it to Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon for merely summarizing the existing arguments about science and religion. Park commented that the reviewer for Publishers Weekly was offended at his assertion that "science is the only way of knowing." Booklist reviewed the book positively for its lucid style, engaging with respected scientists who also hold strong religious faith and its internal logic against claims of supernatural revelation and New Age irrationality. The same review noted that Park was less compelling in addressing his own atheism, neurochemistry and its ability to address problems such as free will.

Park died April 29, 2020, survived by his wife and two sons.

Awards and honors

  • 1958 Phi Beta Kappa (University of Texas)
  • 2008 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award from the National Capital Area Skeptics

Selected bibliography

References

<!--*What's New – Bob Park's weekly column and newsletter ; some other bob park, hijacked-->

  • What's New – Bob Park's weekly column and newsletter up to 2012, now at Archive.org
  • Park, Robert – Research Professor and Professor Emeritus . Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Audio: Robert Park in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show The Forum