In thermodynamics, Ted A. Erikson (c.1928-) is an American chemical engineer noted for his thermodynamics publications and experiments on the forced vaporization of water and his efforts to discern a Planck-scale theory of consciousness. [1] The following is his conclusion on this theory presented at his April 1st, 2010 lecture to the American society of Chemical Engineers at the Illinois Institute of Technology:

“Consciousness, a function derived from photons, gets a bit ‘murky’, but therein lies the source.”

Erikson is associated with Institute of Human Thermodynamics whose work is focused on the relationships between mass, energy, body size, and lifetimes of structures, both living and non-living, in attempts to synthesize a unified theory of growth valid from particles the size of the electron to particles the size of the human (human particle).

His 2009 article "What Makes Us Human" attempts to discern an evolution principle at the fundamental particle level to explain growth and consciousness at the human level. [2]

Erikson pointing to a printed version of the evolution timeline, at a 2010 lecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, attempting to argue to engineer Libb Thims and physicist David Gore, that Planck length particles have consciousness. [2]

Education
Erikson completed his BS in chemical engineering and in 1959 his MS in chemistry on “Steady-State Thermodynamics”, focused on the forced vaporization of water based on experiments, under American physical chemist Ralph Tykodi, at the at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Erikson went on to work for twenty years in the research and development department of the Armour Research Foundation, a subdivision of ITT, and later worked as a high school chemistry-physics-mathematics teacher for a period of twenty years.

References
1. (a) Tykodi, Ralph J. (1967). Thermodynamics of Steady State, (pgs. 15, 29, 57). MacMillan.
(b) Tykodi, Ralph J. (2002). Thermodynamics of Systems in Nonequilibrium States (xix, 210, 224, 252, 436). USA: Thinkers' Press.
(c) Erikson, Ted A. (1960). “Title”, J. Phys. Chem., Vol. (64): 820. (d) Tykoid, Ralph J. (1959). “Title”, J. Chem. Phys. Vol. (31):1521.
(e) Erikson, Ted A. (1959). “Steady-State Thermodynamics: on the Forced Vaporization of Water”, MS Thesis, Illinois Institute of Technology.
(f) Erikson, Ted A. (1965). “Title”, J. Phys. Chem., Vol. (69): 1809.
2. (a) Erikson, Ted A. (2009). “What Makes Us Human: Panpsychism and Thermodynamics Explored”, In: Philosophy of Evolution, in publication (2010).
(b) Talk given to the AIChE students at IIT on April 01, 2010.

External links
● Ted Erikson (publications) – Scribd.com.
● Ted Erikson – SdogV.com
● Ted Erikson – SdogV (videos) at YouTube.com