Francis David Peat[1] (18 April 1938 –6 June 2017) was a British holistic physicist and author who has carried out research in solid state physics and the foundation of quantum theory.
During this time, from 1971 to 1972, he performed a sabbatical study with David Bohm and Roger Penrose at Birkbeck College in London.
According to Peat, the use of the term Bohmian mechanics for his theory "would have shocked Dave [Bohm] somewhat": what was happening with the ideas of Bohm's and Basil Hiley's theory, similarly as what had occurred with those of Hermann Grassman, William Rowan Hamilton and William Kingdon Clifford before, was that physicists left the fundamental ideas aside and merely made use of them as an easy manner of performing calculations.
[7] Peat wrote on the subjects of science, art, and spirituality and proposed the notions of creative suspension and gentle action.
He authored or co-authored many books including Synchronicity: The Bridge between Matter and Mind, Seven Life Lessons of Chaos, Turbulent Mirror, Gentle Action, and Pathways of Chance.
Peat's gentle action has been cited together with Otto Scharmer's Theory U and Arnold Mindell's worldwork as approaches by which individuals, groups, organisations and communities can deal with complex issues.