Sunday 26 April 2020

Nobel Prize-winning Society for Psychical Research members


This is a list of members of the Society for Psychical Research who won Nobel Prizes which I put together for the SPR website in 2008, but it disappeared in the 2016 revamp.  There is a long list of Nobel laureates who had some connection to psychical research in the SPR’s Psi Encyclopedia, but not all were SPR members.  It is worth highlighting the extent to which members of the Society achieved this high honour.

According to Fraser Nicol there have been eleven SPR Nobeleates, which he unfortunately omitted to list, so we are one short, unless Marie Curie counts twice.  I would be happy to hear of any I have missed.


Marie Curie: Physics 1903, Chemistry 1911

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh: Physics 1904 (SPR president 1919)

Sir William Ramsay: Chemistry 1904

J J Thomson: Physics 1906

Maurice Maeterlinck: Literature 1911

Charles Richet: Medicine 1913 (SPR president 1905)

W B Yeats: Literature 1923

Henri Bergson: Literature 1927 (SPR president 1913)

Nicholas Murray Butler: Peace 1931

Brian Josephson: Physics 1973

Friday 3 April 2020

The American Society for Psychical Research: Action Required

  
For those who are not aware of the parlous state of the American Society for Psychical Research and are wondering what this is about, please see my previous posts on the subject, ‘More Downs than Ups at the American Society for Psychical Research’ and ‘The American Society for Psychical Research: Recent Developments’, for the background.

The change.org petition addressed to the New York Charities Bureau seems to have stalled just over the half-way point.  All those who would like to see the ASPR survive are urged to sign the petition and circulate it to anybody else they think might be willing to sign it so that it reaches the target of 1,000 signatures as quickly as possible.  The petition is here:


Reaching the target will help to achieve two aims.  Firstly, it will send a message to the current ASPR management that their activities are being subjected to close scrutiny.  Secondly, regulatory bodies will be much more likely to act if they feel there is widespread negative public opinion on the matter.

As well as signing the petition, New York residents can complain directly to the Attorney General as well as to their state representative who would ask the New York Attorney General to investigate.  In the event that mismanagement or misuse of assets is uncovered, directors and officers can be sued in order to recover the missing funds for the charity.  This could be the stimulus for a criminal investigation, if warranted.

The Attorney General’s office receives large volumes of complaints about charities, and with resources scarce it is easy for the Attorney General's Charities Bureau to focus on those cases with a high profile and neglect the rest.  Simply because they are not investigating does not mean that all is well, but an investigation is less likely while those who care for psychical research sit on their hands.

If there are any ASPR members left, their protests would be particularly welcome as carrying greater weight than those of outsiders.  Also, ex-board members who have remained quiet for many years should add their voices to the campaign.  They have nothing to lose by speaking out and should not feel constrained by a sense of loyalty that was not reciprocated.  Some of them may have made private complaints in the past, but now is the time to renew their concerns, and make them public.

Frankly, time is not on our side.  With an enormous mortgage and no obvious way for it to be repaid, it is necessary to act before the headquarters building is lost, and possibly the archives too.  Why such large loans were taken out, and where the money went, are questions that need to be answered.  In the absence of a voluntary accounting by the ASPR’s President and Executive Director, the only alternative is for official scrutiny to elicit the information.  Please help to make that happen.

If anybody has information that could be useful in the efforts to save the ASPR, please get in touch: tom.ruffles@yahoo.co.uk


Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank those who have contacted me to express their concerns about the matter, and particularly James A. Conrad, who has done a huge amount of tenacious research delving into the murky legal and financial situation.  Diario de Ciencias Psíquicas has kindly translated my previous posts on the ASPR into Spanish, thereby making them available to a wider audience.