Eric W. Davis, PhD – 2013 MUFON Symposium

FASTER THAN LIGHT SPACE WARPS AND INTERSTELLAR FLIGHT: WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

ERIC W. DAVIS, PhD is a Senior Research Physicist at the Inst. for Advanced Studies at Austin (EarthTech Int’l, Inc.). His research specializations include breakthrough space power & propulsion physics, beamed energy propulsion, space nuclear power & propulsion, directed energy weapons, future and transformational technology concepts, general relativity theory, quantum field/gravity theory, quantum optics/metamaterials/complex light/photonics, and SETI contact/astrobiology.

Since 1984, Dr. Davis has been a contractor/consultant to the U.S. Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy, and NASA. From 1995 to 1996, he was on the faculty of the University of Maryland Overseas Program in South Korea and was a strategic space operations contractor to US Forces Korea. And from 1996 to 2002, he was the Director of Aerospace Physics at the National Institute for Discovery Science in Las Vegas, NV.

His professional experience and contributions include: develop megawatt-class laser propulsion physics, systems design, and mission applications for the Air Force laser Lightcraft launch vehicle; design ultrahigh-power laser experiments to explore the structure/properties of the quantum vacuum and spacetime, and corresponding production of antimatter from the vacuum; conduct theoretical studies on the potential for producing ultrahigh-power coherent light from the vacuum using quantum vacuum generators; design quantum optics experiments using ultrahigh-power lasers to produce negative vacuum energy for faster-than-light (general relativistic) space propulsion; design quantum tomography experiments to measure negative vacuum energy states; design tabletop experiments using metamaterials to simulate warp drives and traversable wormholes; perform feasibility studies on laser inertial confinement and ultrahigh-pulsed power Z-pinch/DPF/hybrid fusion for rocket propulsion; and evaluate emergent foreign science and technology for DoD components.

Dr. Davis is the co-editor/author of the peer-reviewed academic research monograph Frontiers of Propulsion Science (American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics Press, 2009). He also authored/co-authored several AFRL and DoD technical reports, peer-reviewed symposium and technical journal papers, chapters in books, conference papers, and authored an award winning STAIF-2006 paper on exploring quantum vacuum zero-point energy for space power & propulsion. He has been twice recognized by the American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics for outstanding contributions to national defense and space public policy. He earned an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Phoenix College (1981), a B.Sc. in Physics-Mathematics (1983) and Ph.D. (1991) in Astrophysics from the University of Arizona. His graduate studies included working on the ESA-NASA Infrared Astronomical Satellite mission at the Steward Observatory, the Voyager 1 & 2 outer planets flyby missions at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and the study of matter-antimatter annihilation rocket propulsion at the Physics Department.

Dr. Davis is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, Associate Fellow of the American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, member of the New York Academy of Sciences, member of the Directed Energy Professional Society, member of SPIE, member of the American Astronomical Society, member of the Assoc. For Intelligence Officers, 195 and was a lifetime member and Vice-President of the now-defunct American Inst. of Beamed Energy Propulsion. He is a practitioner and advisory board member of the Tau Zero Foundation, is a member of the 100-Year Starship Study (Jemison Foundation of Excellence) science advisory board, and is a member of the Icarus Interstellar technical advisory board and advanced projects group. Dr. Davis has appeared in or consulted/contributed to many American and BBC television and documentary film projects as well as many online/print news and magazine articles on interstellar flight and breakthrough propulsion physics.