Page 181 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

162 Mysteries of the Mind

ESP researcher Harold that went beyond the ordinary, as phenomena
Sherman. (ARCHIVES OF that was outside of the usual processes of the
BRAD STEIGER) inner life. The study of this unknown area
between ordinary and pathological states, this
“paraphysical” phenomena, he suggested,
should be called parapsychology.
William James (1842–1910), the foremost
American psychologist of the nineteenth cen-
tury, explored the nonphysical realm of psychic
phenomena and mysticism in his classic work
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902).
Sir William Barrett (1844–1925), professor
of physics and fellow of the Royal Society of
London, became convinced of the reality of
telepathy and was one of the founders of the
British Society for Psychical Research in 1882.
Frederic Myers (1843–1901), a classical
lecturer at Cambridge, wrote Human Personal-
ity and Its Survival of Bodily Death, which was
published posthumously in 1903.
Psychologist William McDougall (1871–
1938), fellow of the Royal Society, provided
sponsorship to Drs. J. B. (1895–1980) and
Louisa E. (1891–1983) Rhine, which allowed
chology with his understanding of his philo- them to conduct parapsychological research at
sophic commitment to his profession would Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, in
encounter an emotional block.”
1927.
In September 2001 physicist Brian Joseph-
Gardner Murphy (1895–1979), an Ameri-
son of Cambridge, England, winner of the
can psychologist, championed the early ESP
Nobel Prize for physics in 1973, provoked an
experiments at Duke University and served as
academic controversy when he declared that
the editor of the Journal of Parapsychology for
there was a great deal of evidence to support
two years.
the existence of telepathy, but scientific jour-
nals censored such research and would not L. L. Vasiliev (1891–1966), professor of
publish articles on the paranormal. Josephson Physiology at the Institute of Brain Research
expressed his belief that certain psychic-sensi- in the University of Leningrad, holder of the
tives might have the ability to direct random Order of Lenin, carried out experiments in
energy at subatomic levels and that develop- ESP from 1921 to 1938, focusing on the theo-
ments in quantum physics “may lead to an ry that ESP was a form of electromagnetic
explanation of processes such as telepathy still radiation.
not understood within conventional science.” By 1930, Drs. J. B. and Louisa Rhine
Serious-minded scientists have been expanded their investigations of ESP beyond
researching ESP since the mid-nineteenth college courses at Duke University and estab-
century. It was Max Dessoir (1867–1947) who lished the first scientific laboratory dedicated
first coined the term “parapsychology” in an to research of psychic phenomena. It was
article he wrote for the German periodical Rhine who first coined the term “extrasensory
Sphinx in 1889. Although he would later perception” (ESP) to describe the ability of
become a distinguished professor of philoso- some individuals to acquire information with-
phy, Dessoir was a student when he defined out the apparent use of the five known senses.
“parapsychologie” (in German) as something He also applied the term “parapsychology” to

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