About Anders Nilsson
Scientist Anders Nilsson, PhD has been active in academia all his adult life. And, for just as many years, Nilsson has pursued an avid interest in spirituality. He has not followed any one spiritual school or tradition, nor has he studied with a guru, but instead listened to his internal voice and intuition to guide him. He has studied both ancient mystical traditions and the teachings from more contemporary spiritual masters. This blend of spiritual knowledge, when folded together with his scientific background, has formed a unique path to spiritual awakening that combines the mind and heart.
Nilsson’s work is featured on this issue of Nature, an important scientific journal.
Nilsson experienced a spiritual awakening in 1993 that completely changed his life and view of the world. The awakening was a result of an emotionally difficult life passage that led him to intense soul-searching, and ultimately to developing the Gentle Way of transformation. He has taught the Gentle Way in numerous workshops since 2000.
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Nilsson finished his Master of Engineering degree at the Royal Institute of Technology in 1981 where he also participated in an international student exchange program studying his final year at the Imperial College in London. He received a PhD in Physics from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 1989 where he stayed on and became Professor in Physics in 1999. He was invited to UC Berkeley as a visiting scientist from 1994 through 1997. Then, in 2000, he became Professor of Photon Science at Stanford University. Currently, he is also Professor of Chemical Physics at Stockholm University, and splits his time between Sweden and California.
Nilsson’s research has focused on the fundamental properties and structure of liquid water and chemical energy transformations on surfaces that are, for instance, related to artificial photosynthesis. He has authored or co-authored over 250 scientific papers in some of the most prominent journals such as Nature, Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy, Physical Review Letters and the Journal of American Chemical Society. In 2004 his work on water was selected by Science Magazine as one of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of the year. He appeared as one of the scientists in the episode about the oceans in the TV series “Through the Wormhole by Morgan Freeman” in the summer of 2014.
Although he currently keeps his scientific and spiritual work separate, he views the two as complementing each other. He considers science as the discipline best equipped to explore and understand the outer or physical world. Whereas, he regards spirituality as the field more adept to help us investigate and understand those experiences beyond our physical senses.
Nilsson truly believes that humanity has a wonderful future ahead if more individuals work to transform their inner self using science and technology as tools to manifest in the physical world what the heart desires.
See Anders’ upcoming events or feel free to contact him with your questions or comments. You can also see and hear him talk about his teachings on the media page.