Eminent Researchers: Nobel Prize Winning Scientists Werner Heisenberg, Guglielmo Marconi, William Phillips, Richard Smalley, Ernst Chain, Arthur Compton, Antony Hewish, Christian Anfinsen, and Walter Kohn

I have added entries for Nobel Prize winning scientists Werner Heisenberg, Guglielmo Marconi, William Phillips, Richard Smalley, Ernst Chain, Arthur Compton, Antony Hewish, Christian Anfinsen, and Walter Kohn to my web page on eminent researchers who believed in some paranormal phenomena because of their own research, the research of others, or their own experiences. There are now twenty fve Nobelist on that page.

• Werner Heisenberg believed that studying science led one to believe in God.
  
• Guglielmo Marconi believed that studying nature and working in science led to the belief that the universe was created.
  
• William Phillips believed the that evidence of natural laws and the fine-tuning of the universe is evidence that the universe was created.
  
• Richard Smalley believed the fine-tuning of the universe is scientific evidence that the universe was designed and created by God.
  
• Ernst Chain did not believe in the natural origin of life because it is chemically impossible. He also did not believe in natural evolution because he felt natural selection was only an assumption not a scientific theory, and it did not explain the purposefulness in the development of individual organisms or the evolution of species.
  
• Arthur Compton believed that the "orderly unfolding" of the universe demonstrated a plan created by God.
  
• Antony Hewish did not believe that the universe or life arose naturally.
  
• Christian Anfinsen said that, like Albert Einstein, he believed that studying science leads to belief in God.
  
• Walter Kohn said that he, like Albert Einstein, believed that studying nature led him to believe in a higher power.
  

The following is the text of the entires:

Werner Heisenberg
(Nobel Prize for Physics)

From Wikikpedia:

Werner Karl Heisenberg (5 December 1901 - 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the key creators of quantum mechanics. ... Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics".

Heisenberg thought that belief in God is a natural result of studying science. He said:

The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.

Guglielmo Marconi
(Nobel Prize for Physics)

Guglielmo Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (... 25 April 1874 - 20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor and electrical engineer, known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission... Marconi ... shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". (Wikipedia)

Marconi believed that studying nature and working in science led to the belief that the universe was created.

The more I work with the powers of Nature, the more I feel God’s benevolence to man; the closer I am to the great truth that everything is dependent on the Eternal Creator and Sustainer; the more I feel that the so-called science, I am occupied with, is nothing but an expression of the Supreme Will, which aims at bringing people closer to each other in order to help them better understand and improve themselves. (Quotes about God...)

William Phillips
(Nobel Prize for Physics)

William Daniel Phillips (born November 5, 1948) is a Nobel Prize award winning, American physicist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics, in 1997, with Steven Chu and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji. (Wikipedia)

William Phillips believed the that evidence of natural laws and the fine-tuning of the universe is evidence that the universe was created.

I believe that the observations about the orderliness of the physical universe, and the apparently exceptional fine-tuning of the conditions of the universe for the development of life suggest that an intelligent Creator is responsible. (A Hitch in the Giddy-Up)

Richard Smalley
(Nobel Prize for Chemistry)

Richard Errett Smalley (June 6, 1943 - October 28, 2005)... In 1996, along with Robert Curl, ... and Harold Kroto, ... he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of a new form of carbon, buckminsterfullerene ("buckyballs") ... (Wikepedia)

Smalley believed the fine-tuning of the universe is scientific evidence that the universe was designed and created by God.

... God did create the universe about 13.7 billion years ago, and of necessity has involved Himself with His creation ever since. The purpose of this universe is something that only God knows for sure, but it is increasingly clear to modern science that the universe was exquisitely fine-tuned to enable human life. ... Wikiquote.

Ernst Chain
(Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine)

Sir Ernst Boris Chain, FRS (19 June 1906 - 12 August 1979) was a German-born British biochemist, and a 1945 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin. (Wikipedia)

Chain did not believe that life arose naturally because it would be impossible due to the laws of chemistry. He believed the existence of life is better explained by the action of God.

(The excerpts about Chain below are from 50 Nobel Laureates and Other Great Scientists who Believe in God by Tihomir Dimitrov.)

Concerning the Materialistic theory of evolution Ernst Chain ... states:

I would rather believe in fairies than in such wild speculation.

I have said for years that speculations about the origin of life lead to no useful purpose as even the simplest living system is far too complex to be understood in terms of the extremely primitive chemistry scientists have used in their attempts to explain the unexplainable that happened billions of years ago. God cannot be explained away by such naive thoughts.”

Chain also did not believe in natural evolution. He recognized it was based on assumptions and was not a scientific theory.

Only one theory has been advanced to make an attempt to understand the development of life - the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution. And a very feeble attempt it is, based on such flimsy assumptions, mainly of morphological-anatomical nature that it can hardly be called a theory.

Chain thought the theory of "natural selection" explained nothing. He thought that "survival of the fittest" was a statement of an obvious fact and was lacking substance and therefore was not a scientific theory. He also believed that something more was necessary because development of individual organisms and evolution of species demonstrated purposefulness (teleology) that could not be explained by natural factors.

Concerning the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution Chain wrote:

It is, of course, nothing but a truism, and not a scientific theory, to say that living systems do not survive if they are not fit to survive.

To postulate, as the positivists of the end of the 19th century and their followers here have done, that the development and survival of the fittest is entirely a consequence of chance mutations, or even that nature carries out experiments by trial and error through mutations in order to create living systems better fitted to survive, seems to me a hypothesis based on no evidence and irreconcilable with the facts.

This hypothesis wilfully neglects the principle of teleological purpose which stares the biologist in the face wherever he looks, whether he be engaged in the study of different organs in one organism, or even of different subcellular compartments in relation to each other in a single cell, or whether he studies the interrelation and interactions of various species.

These classical evolutionary theories are a gross oversimplification of an immensely complex and intricate mass of facts, and it amazes me that they were swallowed so uncritically and readily, and for such a long time, by so many scientists without a murmur of protest.

Arthur Compton
(Nobel Prize in Physics)

Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 - March 15, 1962) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his discovery of the Compton effect. He is also known for his leadership of the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory. He served as Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis from 1945 to 1953. (Wikipedia)

Arthur Compton believed that the "orderly unfolding" of the universe demonstrated a plan created by God.

It is not difficult for me to have this faith, for it is incontrovertible that where there is a plan there is intelligence - an orderly, unfolding universe testifies to the truth of the most majestic statement ever uttered - 'In the beginning, God.' (brainyquote.com)

Antony Hewish
(Nobel Prize in Physics)

Antony Hewish FRS (born Fowey, Cornwall, 11 May 1924) is a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle) for his work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969. (Wikipedia)

Hewish did not believe that the universe or life arose naturally.

I believe in God. It makes no sense to me to assume that the Universe and our existence is just a cosmic accident, that life emerged due to random physical processes in an environment which simply happened to have the right properties. (doesgodexist.org)

Christian Anfinsen
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry)

Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr. (March 26, 1916 - May 14, 1995) was an American biochemist. He shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Stanford Moore and William Howard Stein for work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation... (Wikipedia)

Anfinsen said that, like Albert Einstein, he believed that studying science leads to belief in God.

I enclose a favorite quotation from Einstein that agrees almost completely with my own point of view.

Einstein himself once said that "The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God." (50 Nobel Laureates And Other Great Scientists Who Believe In God)

Walter Kohn
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry)

Walter Kohn (born March 9, 1923) is an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the understandings of the electronic properties of materials. (Wikipedia)

Walter Kohn said that he, like Albert Einstein, believed that studying nature led him to believe in a higher power.

I have been influenced in my thinking by the writings of Einstein who has made remarks to the effect that when he contemplated the world he sensed an underlying Force much greater than any human force. I feel very much the same. There is a sense of awe, a sense of reverence, and a sense of great mystery. (doesgodexist.org)

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Eminent Researchers: Nobelist George Wald believed consciouness is not produced by the brain. Nobelist Brian Josephson believed the universe was created through the action of intelligence.

I have added the following entry on Nobelist George Wald to my web page on eminent researchers who believed in some paranormal phenomena because of their own research, the research of others, or their own experiences.

George Wald
(Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine)

From Wikipedia:

George Wald (November 18, 1906 - April 12, 1997) was an American scientist who is best known for his work with pigments in the retina. He won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit.

George Wald believed that consciousness was not produced by matter and that matter and life existed only because of preexisting consciousness.

From LIFE AND MIND IN THE UNIVERSE By George Wald

... mind, rather than being a late development in the evolution of organisms, had existed always: that this is a life-breeding universe because the constant presence of mind made it so.

...

What we recognize as the material universe, the universe of space and time and elementary particles and energies, is then an avatar, the materialization of primal mind.

I also updated the entry for Brian Josephson
with the following:

Brian Josephson also believed that the universe was created through the action of intelligence. The following is an abstract from a talk given by
Josephson:

I shall argue for an explanation involving the idea that a more elementary form of life, not dependent on matter, existed prior to the big bang, and evolved at the level of ideas in the same way that human societies evolve at the level of ideas. Just as human society discovered how to use matter in a range of technological applications, the hypothesised life before the big bang discovered how to organise energy to make physical universes, and to make fruitful use of the matter available in such universes.

This web page on Eminent Researchers now includes sixteen Nobel Prize winners:

• Max Planck
  
• Wolfgang Pauli
  
• Erwin Schrödinger
  
• Albert Einstein
  
• J. J. Thomson
  
• Brian D. Josephson
  
• Charles Robert Richet
  
• John William Strutt
  
• Marie Curie
  
• Pierre Curie
  
• Eugene Wigner
  
• John Eccles
  
• Otto Stern
  
• Arno Penzias
  
• Charles Townes
  
• George Wald
  

And, many other brilliant scientists including:

• Charles Darwin
  
• Kurt Gödel
  
• Sir Fred Hoyle
  
• John von Neumann
  
• Alan Turing
  
• Wernher von Braun
  
• David Bohm
  
• Karl Popper
  
• Sir Robert Boyle
  

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Astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle: "A superintellect has monkeyed with physics."

I have updated my web page on eminent researchers who believed in the evidence for some type of paranormal phenomena with the following entry on Fred Hoyle. I also added an entry for Hoyle in a recent post about scientists who believed that the scientific evidence shows that the universe was designed.

Sir Fred Hoyle

The article for Sir Fred Hoyle in Wikipedia describes him as an English astronomer who is most remembered for his work on how chemical elements are synthesized in stars (nucleosynthesis). He received many honors during his life including: Fellow of the Royal Society, Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Medal. He was Knighted in 1972. Hoyle did not win the Nobel Prize but many people thought he was unfairly excluded in 1983 when the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded for nucleosynthesis in which he "had been one of the key and original workers". Hoyle resisted the implications of the Big Bang theory, a name which he was first to use. He tried to find a theory that would describe a steady state universe that did not have a beginning.

However, Hoyle believed the evidence that the universe was fine tuned by an intelligence and that life arose and evolved through intelligent design. This is similar to the cosmological argument that the universe must have been designed by an intelligent creator. Hoyle also believed the universe was designed for a purpose.

The following quotes explain Hoyle's views in his own words:

On the fine tuning of the universe:

Would you not say to yourself, "Some super-calculating intellect must have designed the properties of the carbon atom, otherwise the chance of my finding such an atom through the blind forces of nature would be utterly minuscule. A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question." (Wikipedia)

Life is the product of intelligent design:

If one proceeds directly and straightforwardly in this matter, without being deflected by a fear of incurring the wrath of scientific opinion, one arrives at the conclusion that biomaterials with their amazing measure or order must be the outcome of intelligent design. (Wikipedia)

Higher life forms did not evolve naturally:

The chance that higher life forms might have emerged [naturally] in this way is comparable with the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.

- Hoyle on evolution, Nature, Vol. 294, No. 5837 (November 12, 1981), p. 105 (Wikiquote)

Life did not arise naturally:

The notion that not only the biopolymer but the operating program of a living cell could be arrived at by chance in a primordial organic soup here on the Earth is evidently nonsense of a high order.

- The Big Bang in Astronomy, New Scientist, Vol. 92, No. 1280 (November 19, 1981), p. 527 (Wikiquote)

The universe was designed for a purpose:

There is a coherent plan to the universe, though I don't know what it's a plan for.

- Attributed in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999) edited by Elizabeth Knowles and Angela Partington (Wikiquote)

The blog "Uncommon Descent", quotes science historian Michael Flannery writing that Hoyle believed that the universe was designed by an intelligent creator.

I think it is a fair assessment to consider Hoyle a creationist in the broadest sense of the term. Yes, he rejected Darwinian evolution, and yes, he held to panspermia, but his book The Intelligent Universe: A New View of Creation and Evolution (1983) and other writings I think substantiate Theodore Walker’s assessment that Hoyle’s views accorded “with the religious idea of a supremely intelligent Creator-Provider-Sustainer of the universe” that was essentially panenthic and at least implicitly pro-theistic

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Philosopher Chris Carter: Super-psi is Pseudo-science.

I have updated my web page on Eminent Researchers to include the following entry on philosopher Chris Carter:

Oxford educated philosopher Chris Carter is author of several books on the afterlife, including Science and the Near-Death Experience, and Science and the Afterlife Experience. Carter believes that consciousness is not produced by the brain. In his essay, Does Consciousness depend on the Brain?, he justifies this belief by stating that the brain is more likely to transmit consciousness than it is to produce consciousness because the transmission hypothesis explains more facts than the production hypothesis. The transmission hypothesis explains how the brain can influence consciousness without causing consciousness by comparing the brain to a radio. When you listen to music on a radio, the radio seems to produce music, and if you damage the radio it will affect the music, but the music is actually originating from a radio station transmitting the broadcast. This analogy is similar to the filter model of the brain.

In an interview on Subversivethinking.blogspot.com Carter sums up his work on the afterlife:

In my work I present the evidence that provides a prima facie case for survival; demonstrate that alternative explanations, to the extent that they are testable, have been proven false; and then argue that to the extent these alternative explanations are not testable (such as elaborate fraud scenarios, or super-ESP) they are pseudo-scientific excuses for refusing to accept an otherwise straightforward inference from the evidence.

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Atheists: "Science shows there is no good reason to believe in God". Nobel Prize Winning Scientists: "The scientific evidence is best explained by the existence of God".

I have updated my web page on Eminent Researchers to include Nobel prize winning scientists Arno Penzias and Charles Townes. Both of these scientists believed there is scientific evidence best explained by the existence of an intelligence who designed the universe. With the addition of these two scientists, there are now fifteen Nobel prize winning scientists who believed in the evidence for some paranormal phenomena listed on that web page.

Some atheists and pseudoskeptics say that science can explain everything about the natural world and therefore God is an "unnecessary hypothesis" and so there is no good reason for anyone to believe in God. However, Penzias, Townes, and more Nobel prize winning scientists as well as other great scientists disagree. They believed there is scientific evidence that is best explained by the existence of an intelligence who designed the universe. Charles Darwin himself believed natural laws were designed. That is something you never hear from the pseudoskeptics.

Albert Einstein (Nobel Prize in Physics),

... every one who is seriously engaged in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit vastly superior to that of men, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.

Arno Penzias (Nobel Prize in Physics),

Astronomy leads us to an unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life. In the absence of an absurdly-improbable accident, the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan.

Charles Townes (Nobel Prize in Physics),

In my view, the question of origin seems to be left unanswered if we explore from a scientific view alone. Thus, I believe there is a need for some religious or metaphysical explanation. I believe in the concept of God and in His existence.

Brian Josephson (Nobel Prize in Physics),

I shall argue for an explanation involving the idea that a more elementary form of life, not dependent on matter, existed prior to the big bang, and evolved at the level of ideas in the same way that human societies evolve at the level of ideas. Just as human society discovered how to use matter in a range of technological applications, the hypothesised life before the big bang discovered how to organise energy to make physical universes, and to make fruitful use of the matter available in such universes.

Charles Darwin,

I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance.

Sir Fred Hoyle (Hoyle is commonly thought to be an atheist yet he undoubtedly believed the universe was designed by an intelligent creator.),

Would you not say to yourself, "Some super-calculating intellect must have designed the properties of the carbon atom, otherwise the chance of my finding such an atom through the blind forces of nature would be utterly minuscule. A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question."

Wernher von Braun,

For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all."

More Nobel prize winners and other great scientists who believed in the evidence for some paranormal phenomena can be found at Eminent Researchers.

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Albert Einstein believed that the laws of nature were designed by an intelligence. This belief was formed by his experiences working as a scientist.

I have updated my web page on Eminent Researchers to include the following section on Albert Einstein.

Albert Einstein
(Nobel Prize for Physics)

From Wikipedia

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist and violinist. He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics).[2][3] While best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"),[4] he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".[5] The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory.

Einstein is often mistakenly identified as an atheist. The confusion comes from the fact that he did not believe in a personal god. But, because of his experiences studying nature during his career as a scientist, Einstein believed that natural laws were designed by an intelligence.

These quotes by Einstein from Wikiquote explain his beliefs:

I believe in Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.

...

My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality.

This next quote shows that Einstein's beliefs were not merely based on faith but were shaped by his experiences working as a scientist.

On the other hand, however, every one who is seriously engaged in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit vastly superior to that of men, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.

Did Einstein Believe in God? by John Marsh provides a very detailed discussion demonstrating the fact that Einstein believed in God. Marsh writes:

To sum up: Einstein was – like Newton before him – deeply religious and a firm believer in a transcendent God.

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Charles Darwin Refutes Materialism

I found an interesting quote by Charles Darwin at evolutionnews.org

Nevertheless you have expressed my inward conviction, though far more vividly and clearly than I could have done, that the Universe is not the result of chance. But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?

It is from a letter by Darwin to William Grahm written in 1881. The quote shows that Darwin believed that the universe is not the result of chance, and that he doubts that human reason is reliable if it arose through natural selection. This is quite a strong refutation of materialism. I knew that Darwin believe that natural laws were designed but I had not seen this quote before so I updated the section on Charles Darwin on my web page on Eminent Researchers. The addition explains how Darwin's beliefs undermines materialism:

Charles Darwin is credited with being a co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection. He was not an atheist, he was agnostic. He believed that one could not know if God existed or not. Darwin also believed that the universe did not arise by chance and that natural laws resulted from design which indicates that he believed in a form of Intelligent Design.

Darwin also doubted human reason was reliable if it evolved through natural selection. This is a key point in the argument that materialism is not a rational philosophy. If you cannot trust human reason, then it is irrational to believe anything, including materialism. It is significant that Darwin's beliefs on this subject undermine materialism because Darwin's theory of natural selection was one of the most important ideas that led to materialism and philosophical naturalism being adopted by most scientists. When you consider that Darwin believed natural laws were designed, and he did not trust human reason if it arose through natural selection, you begin to see that exploiting Darwinian theory as foundation of materialism is a huge scam.

Materialism says that there are no supernatural entities. Darwin's beliefs that the universe did not arise by chance and that natural laws were designed contradict materialism. His doubt that human reason could be reliable if it arose through natural selection also undermines materialism. Since materialists maintain that human reason arose through natural selection, according to Darwin human reason is therefore of doubtful reliability, so it is not rational for a materialist to believe in anything, including materialism. On my web page on Skeptical Fallacies I have a section that discusses in more detail the fact that materialism undermines itself, so I also added the quote by Darwin to that section.

That Darwin was such a poor advocate for materialism made me realize how unfortunately ironic it is that Darwinism, evolution by means of natural selection, was made part of the foundation of scientific materialism. This realization led me to make the following addition to my post on T. H. Huxley: Accidental Founder of Modern Pseudo-skepticism which discusses how Darwinism was used to foist philosophical naturalism on the scientific establishment through a conspiracy led by T. H. Huxley.

It is unfortunate that Darwin was used this way in the adoption of philosophical naturalism and materialism by the scientific establishment. Materialism is a gross misrepresentation of Darwin's thinking. Darwin believed that the universe did not arise by chance and that natural laws were designed - which directly contradict materialism and is a form of intelligent design. Darwin also doubted human reason could be reliable if it arose through natural selection. If you cannot trust reason, then it is not rational to believe in anything including materialism. This argument is a well known flaw in materialism whereby materialism refutes itself. Darwin's beliefs did not support materialism yet his theory of natural selection is a keystone in the philosophy of materialism because it provides materialism with an explanation of how complex organisms arose naturally.

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Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Otto Stern Believed in Psychokinesis.

I have added Nobel Prize winning physicist Otto Stern to my web page on Eminent Researchers because of his belief in psychokinesis. Stern is the twelfth Nobelist on that page who believed in some type of paranormal phenomena because of their own experiences, their own research, or because of the research of others. The addition includes the following text:

Otto Stern won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1943. He believed in psychokinesis in the form of the Pauli Effect. Stern banned physicist Wolfgang Pauli from entering his laboratory because he believed Pauli could damage experimental equipment merely by being present in the lab. (Also see Wolfgang Pauli, above).

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Kurt Gödel, greatest philosopher of all time, did not believe in materialism, or that consciousness was produced by the brain, or that the brain was produced by Darwinian Evolution. Gödel believed a human is a spirit connected to a body.

I have updated my web page on Eminent Researchers to include Kurt Gödel. Gödel, possibly the greatest philosopher of all time, did not believe in materialism, or that the mind was produced by the brain, or that the brain evolved through Darwinian evolution. He believed a human is a spirit connected with a physical body and that there were beings higher than humans and other worlds than earth.

The update to my web page includes:

From Wikipedia:

Kurt Friedrich Gödel (April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was an Austrian American logician, mathematician, and philosopher. After World War II, he emigrated to the United States. Considered with Aristotle and Frege one of the most significant logicians in human history, Gödel made an immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the 20th century, a time when others such as Bertrand Russell, A. N. Whitehead, and David Hilbert were pioneering the use of logic and set theory to understand the foundations of mathematics.

Kurt Gödel did not believe in materialism, or that the mind was produced by the brain, or that the brain evolved through Darwinian evolution. He believed a human was a spirit connected with a physical body and that there were beings higher than humans and other worlds than earth.

Kevincarmody.com lists these quotes by Kurt Gödel (among many others) from A Logical Journey by Hao Wang.

Kurt Gödel said:

• Materialism is false.
  

• The world in which we live is not the only one in which we shall live or have lived.
  

• The brain is a computing machine connected with a spirit.
  

• I don’t think the brain came in the Darwinian manner. In fact, it is disprovable. Simple mechanism can’t yield the brain. I think the basic elements of the universe are simple. Life force is a primitive element of the universe and it obeys certain laws of action. These laws are not simple, and they are not mechanical.
  

• In materialism all elements behave the same. It is mysterious to think of them as spread out and automatically united. For something to be a whole, it has to have an additional object, say, a soul or a mind. “Matter” refers to one way of perceiving things, and elementary particles are a lower form of mind. Mind is separate from matter.
  

• There are other worlds and rational beings of a different and higher kind.
  

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Sir J. J. Thomson, Nobel prize winning physicist, believed in psychic phenomena. He was a member of the Governing Council of the Society for Psychical Research for 34 years.

I have updated my web page on Eminent Researchers to include J. J. Thomson. Thomson was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for discovering the electron. He believed in psychic phenomena and was a member of the Governing Council for the Society for Psychical Research for 34 years.

The update to my web page includes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_J_Thomson

Sir Joseph John "J. J." Thomson, OM, FRS (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940) was a British physicist. He is credited with discovering electrons and isotopes, and inventing the mass spectrometer. Thomson was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the electron and for his work on the conduction of electricity in gases.

J. J. Thomson believed in psychic phenomena and was a member of the Governing Council of the Society for Psychical Research for 34 years. (Source: Entangled Minds by Dean Radin)

Thomson is the eleventh Nobelist I know of who believed in paranormal phenomena or that consciousness was non-physical based on their own research, their own experiences, or after studying the research of others. The other Nobelists are:

• Max Planck - Believed consciousness is not physical based on his own research.
  

• Wolfgang Pauli - Believed that his own unconscious PK wrecked experimental equipment.
  

• Erwin Schrödinger - Believed consciousness is not physical based on his own research.
  

• Brian D. Josephson - Believed in the results of ESP research.
  

• Charles Robert Richet - From his own research believed in macro PK, precognition, anomalous cognition, and ectoplasm.
  

• John William Strutt - Believed physical mediumship was a serious field of study based on his personal observations.
  

• Marie Curie - Observed physical mediums hoping the phenomena might lead to an understanding of radioactivity.
  

• Pierre Curie - Same as Marie Curie, attested to genuineness of physical mediumship.
  

• Eugene Wigner - Believed consciousness is fundamental.
  

• John Eccles - Neurophysiologist who believed the brain did not produce consciousness and that promissory materialism is superstition.
  

Other Eminent Researchers:

• Charles Darwin - Believed natural laws were designed, this is a form of intelligent design.
  

• Alan Turing - Believed in the results of ESP research.
  

• Wernher von Braun - Believed consciousness survives death.
  

• David Bohm - Believed in the results of parapsychology.
  

• Karl Popper - Believed in dualism (which falsifies materialism).
  

• Sir William Crookes - Invented cathode-ray tube, believed in survival after death and proved macro PK in 1871.
  

• Sir Robert Boyle - Discoverer of Boyle's law, studied laying on of hands healing healing, attested to the results.
  

More information and references are on my web site at Eminent Researchers.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Sir John Eccles, Nobel Prize Winning Neurophysiologist: The Brain Does Not Produce Consciousness

I have updated my web page on Eminent Researchers to include Nobel prize winning neurophysiologist Sir John Eccles. Eccles is the tenth Nobel prize winning scientists I have added to that page who believed in the soul or in some paranormal phenomenon based on their own research, experiences, or studies. The other Nobel prize winning scientists are:

• Max Planck
  
• Wolfgang Pauli
  
• Erwin Schrödinger
  
• Brian D. Josephson
  
• Charles Robert Richet
  
• John William Strutt
  
• Marie Curie
  
• Pierre Curie
  
• Eugene Wigner
  

Other eminent researches discussed on the same web page who held such beliefs include:

• Charles Darwin
  
• Alan Turing
  
• Wernher von Braun
  
• David Bohm
  
• Karl Popper
  
• Sir Robert Boyle
  

You can learn more about these scientists and their beliefs at the link above.

The section on Sir John Eccles is this:

Sir John Eccles

Sir John Eccles was a neurophysiologist who won the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 for his work on the synapse. He did not believe that the brain produces consciousness. In Evolution of the Brain: Creation of the Self (1989) he wrote:

I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as a superstition ... we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Carew_Eccles

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Charles Darwin was not an atheist, he believed in a form of Intelligent Design

I've updated the Eminent Researchers page on my web site to include a section on Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection. He was not an atheist, he was agnostic. He believed that one could not know if God existed or not. Darwin also believed that natural laws resulted from design which indicates that he believed in a form of Intelligent Design.

Wikiquote

Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist who achieved lasting fame by outlining the theory of evolution and proposing that evolution could be explained through natural and sexual selection. Prompted by awareness that Alfred Russel Wallace was developing similar theories he published his own sooner than he had originally intended. This theory is now considered an integral component of biological science.

darwinproject.ac.uk

In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.— I think that generally (& more and more so as I grow older) but not always, that an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind.

Wikipedia

Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—are unknown and (so far as can be judged) unknowable.

Wikiquote

With respect to the theological view of the question: This is always painful to me. I am bewildered. I had no intention to write atheistically, but I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars or that a cat should play with mice... On the other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance.

Copyright © 2012 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Eminent Researchers: Alan Turing and Wernher von Braun

I have updated the Eminent Researchers page on my web site to include Alan Turing and Wernher von Braun.

Alan Turing

From Wikipedia.

Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS ( 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine.[1][2] Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.[3]

In a paper where he describes his Turing Machine,
Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59, 433-460,
Turing wrote:

I assume that the reader is familiar with the idea of extrasensory perception, and the meaning of the four items of it, viz., telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis. These disturbing phenomena seem to deny all our usual scientific ideas. How we should
like to discredit them! Unfortunately the statistical evidence, at least for telepathy, is overwhelming. It is very difficult to rearrange one's ideas so as to fit these new facts in. Once one has accepted them it does not seem a very big step to believe in ghosts and bogies. The idea that our bodies move simply according to the known laws of physics, together with some others not yet discovered but somewhat similar, would be one of the first to go.

Turing recognized that the lack of ESP would prevent a computer from passing the Turing Test.

Wernher von Braun

From Wikipedia:

Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German-born rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and, subsequently, the United States.

From Wikiquote:

Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death.

...

For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all.

...

It is in scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happening by chance.

Copyright © 2012 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

David Bohm one of the top theoretical quantum physicists believed in parapsychology.

I have updated the Eminent Researchers page on my web site to include David Bohm.

David Bohm was one of the best quantum physicists of all time and one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century (wikipedia).

David Joseph Bohm FRS[1] (20 December 1917 – 27 October 1992) was an American-born British quantum physicist who contributed to theoretical physics, philosophy of mind, neuropsychology. David Bohm is widely considered to be one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century.[2]
...

David Bohm was widely considered one of the best quantum physicists of all time.[2]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bohm

In the article, David Bohm and Jiddo Krishnamurti which appeared in the Skeptical Inquirer, July 2000, Martin Garner wrote that Bohm was favorably impressed with parapsychology including Rupert Sheldrake's morphogenetic fields. Bohm took Uri Geller's psychic phenomena seriously and carried with him a key bent by Geller. Bohm believed in panpsychicsm, in one interview he said, "Even the electron is informed with a certain level of mind,"

Erwin Schrödinger (Nobel Prize in Physics) believed consciousness was not prodced by the brain and could not be explained in physical terms.

I have updated the Eminent Researchers page on my web site to include Erwin Schrödinger.

Erwin Schrödinger received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933. He believed consciousness was not produced by the brain and could not be explained in physical terms.

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger ( 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961) was an Austrian born physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, and is famed for a number of important contributions to physics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933. In 1935 he proposed the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.[2]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Schrödinger

Schrödinger wrote:

"Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else."


http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/325387

Other quotes by Schrödinger:

The observing mind is not a physical system, it cannot interact with any physical system. And it might be better to reserve the term "subject" for the observing mind. ... For the subject, if anything, is the thing
that senses and thinks. Sensations and thoughts do not belong to the "world of energy."

...

I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world around me is deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart, that really matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet, physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good or bad, God and eternity. Science sometimes pretends to answer questions in these domains, but the answers are very often so silly that we are not inclined to take them seriously.

...

There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousnesses. Their multiplicity is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind.




http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erwin_Schrödinger

Wolfgang Pauli winner Nobel Prize in Physics: Psychokinesis is real, I can do it.

Wolfgang Pauli, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945, was one of the pioneers of quantum physics. He believed in psychokinesis - that a person could influence material objects by means unknown to mainstream science. He believed he manifested this power by damaging experimental equipment. This phenomenon was called the Pauli Effect. Pauli also believed in synchronicity and that parapsychology was not pseudo-science but worthy of study. He believed that some psychic contents survive personal ego and can effect other living people.

More information here: Wolfgang Pauli


Other Nobel Prize winning scientists who believed in paranormal phenomena:

Max Planck
Brian D. Josephson
Charles Robert Richet
John William Strutt
Marie Curie
Pierre Curie

More information at: Eminent Researchers

Notes of Seances with D. D. Home. By William Crookes, F. R. S.

From: Notes of Seances with D. D. Home. By William Crookes, F. R. S. p98. The Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research Volume VI 1889 - 1890

The seance excerpted below took place at the home of William Crookes. There was sufficient light for everyone present to see everything that occurred. The accordion which was seen and heard to play by itself was purchased by Crookes. Under these conditions the medium, D. D. Home, could not have used any special mechanical apparatus to produce levitations, play the accordion, produce raps, or create any other of the phenomena that was observed.

Page 117:

(VIII.) SUNDAY, July 30th, 1871. Sitting at 20, Mornington-road.

Present:- Mr. D. D. Home, Mr. Wm. Crookes, Mrs. Wm. Crookes, Mrs. Humphrey, Mr. Wr. Crookes, Mrs. Wr. Crookes, Mrs. I., Miss A. Crookes, Mr. H. Crookes, Mr. T., and at 11p.m. Lord A.

In the dining-room round the dining-table.

During the former part of the evening the gas was lighted; during the latter part the room was illuminated by two spirit lamps.

...

The accordion was held by Mr. Home in the usual position under the table. Whilst it played Mrs. I. looked beneath and saw it playing. Mr. Home removed his hand altogether from it, and held both hands above the table. During this Mrs. I. said she saw a luminous hand playing the accordion.

The gas was now turned out, and three spirit lamps were lighted.

Loud raps were heard, and, the planchette moved across a sheet of paper, leaving a mark with the pencil.

The lath moved some inches.

The accordion, which had been left by Mr. Home under the table, now began to play and move about without anyone touching it. It dropped on to my foot, then dragged itself away, playing all the time, and went to Mrs. I. It got on to her knees.

Mr. Home then took it in his hand, where it played, and delivered the following message by chords in the usual way:-

"Our joy and thankfulness to have been allowed to make our presence manifest We thank you for your patience and we thank GOD for His love."

Mr. Home got up and stood behind in full view of all, holding the accordion out at arm's length. We all saw it expanding and contracting and heard it playing a melody. Mr. Home then let go of the accordion, which went behind his back and there continued to play; his feet being visible and also his two hands, which were In front of him

Mr. Home then walked to the open apace in the room between Mrs. I.'s chair and the sideboard and stood there quite upright and quiet. He then said, "I'm rising, I'm rising"; when we all saw him rise from the ground slowly to a height of about six inches, remain there for about 10 seconds, and then slowly descend. From my position I could not see his feet, but I distinctly saw his head, projected against the opposite wall, rise up, and Mr. Wr. Crookes, who was sitting near where Mr. Home was, said that his feet were in the air. There was no stool or other thing near which could have aided him. Moreover, the movement was a smooth continuous glide upwards.

Whilst this was going on we heard the accordion fall heavily to the ground. It had been suspended in the air behind the chair where Mr. Home had been sitting. When it fell Mr. Home was about 10ft. from it.

Mr. Home still standing behind Mrs. I. and Mr. Wr. Crookes, the accordion was both seen and heard to move about behind him without his hands touching it It then played a tune without contact and floating in the air.

Mr. Home then took the accordion in one hand and held it out so that we could all see it (he was still standing up behind Mrs. I. and Mr. Wr. Crookes). We then saw the accordion expand and contract and heard a tune played. Mrs. Wm. Crookes and Mr. Home saw a light on the lower part of the accordion, where the keys were, and we then heard and saw the keys clicked and depressed one after the other fairly and deliberately, as if to show us that the power doing it, although invisible (or nearly so) to us, had full control over the instrument.

A beautiful tune was then played whilst Mr. Home was standing up holding the accordion out in full view of everyone.

Mr. Home then came round behind me and telling me to hold my left arm out placed the accordion under my arm, the keys hanging down and the upper part pressing upwards against my upper arm. He then left go and the accordion remained there. He then placed his two hands one on each of my shoulders. In this position, no one touching the accordion but myself, and every one noticing what was taking place, the instrument played notes but no tune.

Mr. Home then sat down in his chair, and we were told by raps to open the table about an inch or an inch and a.half.

Mr. T. touched the point of the lath, when raps immediately came on it.

The planchette, which was on the table resting on a sheet of paper, now moved a few inches.

Sounds were heard on the accordion, which was on the floor, not held by Mr. Home.

The corner of the paper next to Mrs. Wm. Crookes (on which the planchette was standing) moved up and down. (These three last phenomena were going on simultaneously.)

I felt something touch my knee; it then went to Mrs. I., then to Miss A. Crookes.

Whilst this was going on I held the bell under the table, and it was taken from me and rung round beneath. It was then given to Mrs. I. by a hand which she described as soft and warm.

The lath was now seen to move about a little.

Mrs. Wm. Crookes saw a hand and fingers touching the flower in Mr. Home's button-hole. The flower was then taken by the hand and given to Mrs. I. and the green leaf was in a similar manner given to Mr. T.

Mrs. Wm. Crookes and Mr. Home saw the hand doing this, the others only saw the flower and leaf moving through the air.

Mrs. Wm. Crookes held a rose below the table; it was touched and then taken.

The sound as of a drum was heard on the accordion.

The lath lifted itself up on its edge,then reared itself upon one end and fell down. It then floated up four inches above the table, and moved quite round the circle, pointing to Mrs. Wm. Crookes. It then rose up and passed over our heads outside the circle.

The planchette moved about a good deal, marking the paper.

The cloth was dragged along the table.

Whilst the lath was moving round the circle, the accordion played a tune in Mr. Home’s hand whilst Mrs. Wm. Crookes's hand was also on it.

Mrs. Wm. Crookes put her hand near the lath, when it came up to it, and moved about it very much.

The paper on which the planchette was resting moved about us as if by a hand. Many present saw a hand doing it. (Mr. Home and Mrs. Wm. Crookes saw this hand.)

Mr. H. Crookes saw a luminous hand come up between Mr. Home and Mrs. Wm. Crookes.

Some time during the evening Mrs. Wm. Crookes's handkerchief, which had been in her pocket, was taken out of it by a hand.

I saw something white moving about in the further corner of the room (diagonal to door) under a chair. On my remarking this, a message was given by raps:-

"William! take it."

On getting up and taking it I saw that it was my wife's pocket handkerchief tied in a knot, and having the stalk of the rose which had been taken from her tied up in it. The place where I picked up the handkerchief was fifteen feet from where she had been sitting.

A glass water bottle which was on the table now floated up and rapped against the planchette.

Mr. Home said: "I see a face. I see Philip's face. Philip! Brother I"

The water and tumbler now rose up together, and we had answers to questions by their tapping together whilst floating in the air about eight inches above the table, and moving backwards and forwards from one to the other of the circle.

Mr. H. Crookes said a hand was tickling his knee.

A finger was protruded up the opening of the table between Miss A. Crookes and the water bottle,

Miss A. Crookes, Mr. H. Crookes, and Mrs. I. were then touched.

Fingers came up the opening of the table a second time and waved about.

The lath, which on its last excursion had settled in front of the further window, quite away from the circle, now moved along the floor four or five times very noisily. It then came up to Mr. T., and, passed into the circle over his shoulder. It settled on the table and, then rose up again, pointing to Mrs. Wm. Crookes's mouth.

The lath then went to the water bottle and pushed it several times nearly over, to move it away from the opening in the table. The lath then went endways down the opening.

The tumbler moved about a little.

The lath moved up through the opening in the table and answered "Yes" and "No" to questions, by bobbing up and down three times or once.

A hand was seen by some, and a luminous cloud by others, pulling the flowers about which were in a stand on the table. A flower was then seen to be carried deliberately and given to Mrs. Wr. Crookes.

Another flower was taken by the hand and brought over to Mrs. Wm. Crookes; it was dropped between her and Mr. Home.

Raps then said

"We must go."

The raps then commenced loudly all over the room and got fainter and fainter until they became inaudible.

The seance then broke up.

Copyright © 2009 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Ectoplasm and Materialization

Michael Tymn has an excellent series of blog posts on ectoplasm and materialization of spirits.

Ectoplasm is a substance some mediums are able to produce with the help of spirit guides during a seance. It is drawn from the body of the medium and it can be manipulated by spirits. Ectoplasm is used as an interface between the spirit and the physical world. One of its uses is to allow a spirit to take on a physical form which can be seen and sometimes heard speaking during the seance.

If you weren't aware of this phenomenon it might seem incredible. However, many eminent scientists and investigators including Charles Richet (Nobel prize winner in Physiology and Medicine), Alfred Russel Wallace (Co-discoverer, with Charles Darwin of the theory of natural selection), Sir William Crookes (Inventor of the cathode ray tube), and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Medical doctor and author of Sherlock Holmes Stories) have studied this phenomenon and verified it as fact.

These blog posts by Michael Tymn explain the details and include photographs of ectoplasm coming from mediums and spirits materializing. They also include many convincing proofs of the reality of this phenomenon:

• The Mystery of Ectoplasm - Part I

• The Mystery of Ectoplasm -- Part II

• Thought Imagery & Ectoplasm (Part III in a series)

• Ectoplasm, Part IV: Do you know what you look like?

The final part of the series will be posted on Dec. 6

Many books and other references by or about the people mentioned in Michael Tymn's posts are available on-line.

• Phenomena of Materialisation by Baron Von Schrenck Notzing

• Thirty Years of Psychical Research by Charles Richet

• Researches into the Phenomena of Modern Spiritualism by Sir William Crookes

• There Is No Death by Florence Marryat

• "The Voices" and "Glimpses of the Next State" by Vice Admiral W. Usborne Moore

• The Blue Island by W.T. Stead through the mediumship of Pardoe Woodman and Estelle Stead

• Camp Silver Belle Booklet by Lena Barnes Jefts

• Silver Belle Materialization Séance Epharata, Pennsylvania 1953 Ethel Post-Parrish, Medium Jack Edwards, Infra-Red Photographer

Alfred Russel Wallace mentoned above is the author of Miracles and Modern Spiritualism.

Also of interest are these photographs of the medium Jack Webber producing ectoplasm. The photographs are from the book "The Mediumship of Jack Webber" by Harry Edwards.

Copyright © 2009 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Eminent Scientist, Nobel Prize Winners, Who Were Trained Observers and Initially Skeptics, Became Convinced of the Reality of Paranormal Phenomena.

Some people will argue that the average person is not a good observer and that if they have a belief in paranormal phenomena, their bias will influence their perceptions and they may be susceptible to fraud or misidentifying ordinary phenomena as paranormal. For this reason, they argue that reports of paranormal phenomena are unreliable and should not be taken seriously.

However, this reasoning doesn't hold up when you consider that many eminent scientists of the past including Nobel Prize winners who were trained observers and initially skeptics became convinced, by their observations, that certain paranormal phenomena are genuine.

Before the development of modern electronics, observation was a much more important part of scientific education than it is today. Without radio telescopes, electron microscopes, analog to digital converters, and other instruments that make measurements beyond the range of human perception, scientists had to use their own senses to do their work and developing powers of observation was a significant part of their education.

Therefore, when Nobel prize winning scientists of that era such as Charles Richet, Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and other eminent scientists like Robert Boyle, Alfred Russel Wallace, Oliver Lodge and William Crookes describe their observations, especially during controlled experiments, those observations have to be taken seriously. Particularly because most of them began as skeptics until their observations convinced them otherwise. A trained scientist, especially of those past times, was an objective and skilled observer and because of their skepticism cannot be considered analogous to a "true believer" who's bias might influence their perceptions.

All those arguments that call into doubt the ability of ordinary persons who believe in the paranormal to make reliable observations actually reinforce the compelling nature of the conclusions of these eminent researchers. For the most part, they began as skeptics so their bias would work against perceiving paranormal phenomena. The evidence must have been extraordinary to compel them to change their minds against their preexisting bias. As trained observers and skeptics their conclusions that paranormal phenomena are real must be considered reliable and compelling.

Copyright © 2009 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Web Site Updates

There have been some recent updates to my web site

Alfred Russel Wallace has been added to the page on Eminent Researchers. Wallace discovered the theory of natural selection at the same time Charles Darwin did. Wallace started out skeptical of mediumistic phenomena, but his great powers of observation, the same ones that led him to formulate the theory of natural selection, led him to conclude that mediumistic phenomena proved the existence of supernatural intelligences.

This exposes a skeptical fallacy. Many skeptics believe that the theory of natural selection explains the origin of life and and humankind, and therefore belief in supernatural entities is unwarranted. However, Wallace, one of the discoverers of natural selection believed otherwise. This fallacy has been added to the page on skeptical fallacies.

An explanation of another fallacy has also been added to the page on Skeptical Fallacies. Many skeptics believe that past life memories recovered during hypnosis are caused by suggestions or leading questions by the hypnotist. This is not correct. Many psychologists have independently and accidentally discovered past life regression therapy when doing ordinary regression therapy when they simply instruct the subject to "go back to the origin of the problem". False memories of the current life are never generated this way, but memories of past lives are frequently recovered from this process.

Copyright © 2009 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.