Scientific research into the paranormal and metaphysical claims of spiritualists has been ongoing for more than two centuries. This type of investigation is commonly known as an investigation of “psi” phenomena. In 1942, British psychologist Robert Thouless chose to use the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet, Psi, to make it a global term used in parapsychology to collectively describe psychic, paranormal, or metaphysical events that are inexplicable by known laws of physics. .
In the mid-1800s, modern spiritualism was enjoying a surge of popularity in the US. Psychics, mediums, and séances were especially promoted as fancy dinner entertainment. The writer HG Wells even contributed to the movement by suggesting that time could be bent in such a way that we could contact our loved ones across the eons. Several scientists at the time found many of the claims made by practicing spiritualists to be unfounded, and thus a spin-off movement began to discredit their claims. These scientists formed the Society for Psychical Research followed by the founding of the American Society for Psychical Research. It is interesting to note that there were also many advances in the scientific investigation of light and color from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century. Perhaps efforts to discredit spiritualists also led scientists to new ways of thinking about light.
By the 1930s, the profound insights of the Theory of Relativity and the rise of Quantum Theory were beginning to take hold in all the major scientific communities. Also by this time, psychology had separated from philosophy as its own discipline. During this early period of research, all psi energy was considered to be electromagnetic in nature. This was partly due to the fact that in the mid-19th century, Michael Faraday, who introduced the principle of electrical and magnetic induction, was one of the first scientists to investigate psychic phenomena. He, of course, began his research by looking at the properties he was most familiar with, which were electricity and magnetism and how they interacted as a single event. The other reason to investigate the EM characteristics of the psi phenomenon was due to the fact that EM radiation was an invisible but quantifiable and measurable property of work. Science cannot investigate what it cannot somehow measure. Faraday could measure electrical and magnetic forces.
It is interesting to note that even in the early 20th century, when power plants dotted the American landscape, the fundamentals of what electricity was were still theoretical. To this day, that remains true. Although modern physicists can give a very detailed and precise description of exactly what electricity does, no one can definitively say what electricity is. The same is valid for the definition of light.
Virtually every advance in scientific measurement devices generated a corresponding advance in another piece of evidence for the existence of psi phenomena. One example is that when brain waves were first detected, psi researchers interpreted them as evidence of telepathy. Today, detectable frequency bands emanating from the hands of energy healers are put on display as evidence of chi, reiki, or other vital life forces. But still, these measurements didn’t exactly prove anything specific. They simply suggested that energetic forces arose from material substances in direct correlation with intention. While this is a significant statement, it does not fully describe what it is like to sweat.
In the late 1920s, JB Rhine was a professor at Duke University. He became interested in psi research after hearing a lecture by Arthur Conan Doyle on mediumship, or communication with the dead. Rhine graduated as a botanist and, as such, respected the validity of the scientific method. He developed a new branch of science called parapsychology and established laboratory experiments that would provide data on psychic phenomena that could be examined through statistical analysis. In 1940 he published Extrasensory perception after sixty years, which was a summary of all legitimate scientific investigation of psi phenomena up to that time. Today, Rhine is considered a pioneer in the field and has been followed by leading modern-day physicists such as John White, Fred Wolf, and Jack Sarfatti, who are currently investigating the links between life energies, consciousness, and psi phenomena. Many modern researchers use quantum effects in their theories.
In the 1970s, the public became aware of the psi research that had been carried out by the Soviets for more than two decades. Similar government-funded studies had been conducted by the United States, but were publicly denied until the early 1990s.