Petr Beckmann (November 13, 1924 – August 3, 1993) was a professor ofelectrical engineering^[1] and advocate oflibertarianism^[1] andnuclear power^[1] who disputedAlbert Einstein'stheory of relativity and other accepted theories inmodern physics.

In 1939, when Beckmann was 14, his family fled their home inPrague, Czechoslovakia to escape theNazis. From 1942 to 1945, he served in aCzech squadron of theRoyal Air Force. He worked as a radar mechanic on the newly invented radar systems that helped Britain win the Battle of the Atlantic.^[2] He received aB.Sc. in 1949, aPh.D. in 1955, and aD.Sc. in 1962, all fromPrague'sCzech Academy of Sciences inelectrical engineering. Hedefected to theUnited States in 1963 and became a professor (later,emeritus) ofelectrical engineering at theUniversity of Colorado. In the United States, he became acquainted with novelistAyn Rand, a contributing editor to a publication devoted to her ideas,The Intellectual Activist, and a speaker at The Thomas Jefferson School, an intellectual conference of similar purpose.

Beckmann was a prolific author; he wrote several electrical engineering textbooks and non-technical works. By 1968, he had founded Golem Press, which published most of his books. The Golem Press books includedThe Health Hazards of Not Going Nuclear (1976), which argued in favor ofnuclear power during the height of theanti-nuclear movement by making "apples-to-apples" comparisons of the risks of nuclear power with the risks in the same terms (e.g., deaths per terawatt hour) of the alternative power sources. Beckmann also wroteA History ofπ, documenting the history of the calculation ofπ. The book also expresses opposition to the Roman culture,Catholicism (and otherreligions),Nazism, andCommunism. He published his own monthly newsletter,Access to Energy, which since September 1993 has been written by biochemistArthur B. Robinson.

In 1981, he took early retirement with emeritus status, in order to devote himself fully to what he saw as the defense of science, technology andfree enterprise, through his newsletter,Access to Energy. He founded the Golem Press in 1967, publishing more than nine books. These includedThe History ofπ,Einstein Plus Two, andThe Health Hazards of Not Going Nuclear (with an Introduction byEdward Teller). He wrote some 60 scientific papers and eight technical books. Beckmann spoke at the 1990 San Francisco Conference ofInternational Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL), where he received a standing ovation for his speech in which he attacked "sham environmentalists".^[3]

Beckmann was also a frequent participant inUsenet debates. In them, he claimed to have debunkedAlbert Einstein's theory ofspecial relativity in his bookEinstein Plus Two, as well as in the journalGalilean Electrodynamics, which he also founded.^[4]

• Probability in Communication Engineering. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. 1967.OCLC 565718.
• Elements of Applied Probability Theory. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. 1968.^[5]
• Depolarization of Electromagnetic Waves. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1968.ISBN 99957-1-158-3.
• Whispered Anecdotes: Humor from Behind the Iron Curtain. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1969.ISBN 0-911762-04-3.^[5]
• A History ofπ. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1971.ISBN 0-911762-12-4.^[5]
• The Structure of Language: A New Approach. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1972.ISBN 0-911762-13-2.^[5]
• Eco-hysterics & the Technophobes. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1973.ISBN 0-911762-15-9.^[5]
• Orthogonal Polynomials for Engineers and Physicists. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1973.ISBN 0-911762-14-0.^[5]
• Elementary Queuing Theory and Telephone Traffic. New York: Flatiron Pub. 1976.ISBN 0-686-98072-7.^[5]
• The Health Hazards of Not Going Nuclear. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1977.ISBN 0-911762-17-5.^[5]
• Hammer and Tickle: Clandestine Laughter in the Soviet Empire. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1980.ISBN 0-911762-20-5.^[5]
• Einstein Plus Two. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1987.ISBN 978-0-911762-39-6.^[5]
• Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves from Rough Surfaces. New York: Artech House Publishers. 1987.ISBN 0-89006-238-2. (with coauthor A. Spizzichino)
• Musical Musings. Boulder, CO: Golem Press. 1989.ISBN 978-0-911762-40-2.

• Criticism of the theory of relativity
• List of Soviet and Eastern Bloc defectors

• Einstein Plus Two
• Rethinking Relativity, by Tom Bethell (profile of Beckmann and his theories)

• 20th-century American physicists
• Engineering educators
• Engineering writers
• Mathematics writers
• American technology writers
• University of Colorado Boulder faculty
• American libertarians
• 1924 births
• 1993 deaths
• Czechoslovak defectors
• Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States
• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
• Relativity critics

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