Mark Perakh

Mark Perakh (Russian: Марк Пэрах; born Mark Yakovlevich Popereka), born in 1924 (age 86–87) in Kiev, Ukraine, is a professor emeritus of Mathematics and statistical mechanics at California State University, Fullerton in Fullerton, California.

Perakh taught physics, researched superconductivity, and wrote some 300 scientific papers, but his fame particularly comes from his writing about science and religion on Talk Reason, a website he helped found, and from his regular contributions to the blog The Panda's Thumb.^[1]

On August 28, 1958 Perakh (then Popereka), who at the time had been the head of a department in Kazakh Agricultural University in Almaty and K.S.Frusin (department assistant) were sentenced for "badmouthing" the Soviet government and for spreading leaflets calling to vote against candidates in the then forthcoming elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.^[2] Some of Perakh's short stories were inspired by his stay in the gulag.

In 2003, Perakh published Unintelligent Design (Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-59102-084-0), a book that is critical of Intelligent Design, and he is particularly skeptical of some of the arguments proposed by William Dembski, which he states are pseudomathematical. He has also written criticizing Old Earth creationist astronomer, Hugh Ross,^[3][4] and has responded to claims by Jonathan Wells that the lack of published research by creationists contradicting the prevailing scientific consensus is due to a conspiracy he likens to Lysenkoism in the former USSR.^[5][6]

Perakh is also interested in Bible codes, which he believes are ridiculous.^[7]

Perakh's other published books include a technical volume on the subject of thin films, which has been translated into eight languages, and the novel Man in a Wire Cage (1988, ISBN 1-55547-257-5). His website also has a section on Russian oral jokes (anekdoty) and short stories he has written in English and Russian.

References

1. ^ Bradley J. Fikes (2006-02-25). ""Mark Perakh, science defender"". North County Times. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/02/26/science/19_26_132_24_06.txt. Retrieved 2006-11-06. 
2. ^ 58-10. Nadzornyje proizvodstva Prokuratury SSSR po delam ob antisovetskoj agitatsii i propagande. Mart 1953-1991. Annotirovannyj katalog, compiled by O.V.Edelman; Moscow, International Democracy Foundation, 1999, p.470. Also the source given in the book, namely: GARF (the State Archive of the Russian Federation), f.8131, op.31, d.83656. Also see Perakh's own reminiscences at http://www.talkreason.org/articles/eandp.cfm#per
3. ^ Perakh, Mark (1999-12-12. Updated on 2002-05-09). ""A Crusade of Arrogance"". http://www.talkreason.org/articles/ross.cfm. Retrieved 2006-10-18. 
4. ^ Perakh, Mark (2004-05-10). ""Cooling of the universe: Pseudo-thermodynamics of Hugh Ross revisited"". http://www.talkreason.org/articles/Cooling.cfm. Retrieved 2006-10-19. 
5. ^ Wesley R. Elsberry and Mark Perakh (n.d.). ""How Intelligent Design Advocates Turn the Sordid Lessons from Soviet and Nazi History Upside Down"". http://www.talkreason.org/articles/eandp.cfm. Retrieved 2006-11-06. 
6. ^ Mark Perakh (n.d.). ""Whose Head is Ugly? Jonathan Wells and Lysenkoism"". http://www.talkreason.net/articles/ugly.cfm. Retrieved 2006-11-06. 
7. ^ Mark Perakh (2000-05). ""The Rise and Fall of the Bible Code"". Kontinent, no. 103 (translation from Russian by the author). http://members.cox.net/mkarep/Codpaper1.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-06. 

Publications

• Unintelligent Design (Prometheus Books, 2003) ISBN 1-59102-084-0
• Man in a Wire Cage (Critics Choice Paperbacks, August 1988) ISBN 1555472575

External links

• Mark Perakh's home page
• Talk Reason website

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Name	Perakh, Mark
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Date of birth	1924
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