Life After Death

About the Book

This book is unusual in various aspects. It tries to explore if the physical sciences can explain anything concerning the paranormal. Of course the initial reaction is: no way. The author being a physicist and engineer was willing to give it a try anyway. For this reason the book had to be in form of the opinion of one particular scientist, namely Richard Schneider. The intention of the book was to help people who face the inevitable in the not too distance future. To make it useful for the audience, the book could not be a book on science nor on religion. To teach physics would require more than one book, a library would be more like it. In addition, the author does not claim any expertise in theology. On the other hand, since it was intended to help an ordinary person to understand what is being said here, this particular format for the book was employed. First the audience need to understand that what is said here is an opinion. Secondly it was necessary to report the findings of science in simple terms. Therefore one might complain that the reported facts are superficial. That may be true, but they are still correct and not made up by the author but they are universally agreed upon by present days science. To begin with, is there a chance at all that science can say something concerning the paranormal, and especially concerning the subject of this book? If so what branch of science might this be? It turns out this must be physics. Physics is the knowledge concerning energy and time. Life thrives on energy; it cannot exist without it. Therefore what comes when life is over do souls thrive on energy too? Was there a beginning of time and will there be there an end of time. If there is an end of time can souls than be eternal? Questions about time are addressed by the Theory of Relativity. The common opinion is that this is also the most difficult theory of physics. This is actually not true; nevertheless it is indeed difficult and confusing. The book tries to make this theory understandable for everybody. There is no background in mathematics required. The reason is, that a theory is a concept first and then it is further developed in mathematical terms. In this book here we are only interested in the concept. For understanding a concept only common sense is required. The subject of energy is addressed practically by all branches of physics. Energy can neither be generated nor destroyed. This last sentence is a hint. Here is something that is eternal, but where then did it come from. Yes, physics has an answer to this. It also tells us that the teaching of physics may at least border the paranormal. Nature does no make abrupt transitions, they rather are gradual. Therefore science may indeed give a hint as to what religion is teaching may be probable and what might be not so probable.

About the Author

Richard Schneider was born 1927 in Munich, Germany. He was drafted to the (German) military at 16 and so was a prisoner of war at age 18. After returning from the war he attended the University of Stuttgart and earned a PhD in physics. As soon as this degree was awarded he emigrated to the U.S.A. He was sponsored by General Motors, Allison Division. This Division manufactures aircraft turbine-engines and needed a specialist for high temperature devices. Since he worked for his PhD on Thermonuclear Fusion for peaceful power generation, he was offered a position as Professor of Nuclear Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida. He worked there until his retirement.