James
Randi
Recognized internationally for his tireless and successful investigations of
psychic, supernatural, and "magical" claims, and dealing with subjects
that border on both science and mythology, James Randi has become known as one
of America's most original and fearless thinkers, winning him the prestigious
MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship.
As an investigator of unusual claims on the brink of the new Millennium, he has
become accustomed to incredible examples of medieval thinking. For example, in
1972 when two scientists from the Stanford Research Institute validated Uri Geller's
claims of paranormal powers, Geller quickly became an international celebrity
using his "psychic" abilities to bend spoons and move objects. In an
effort to expose the truth about Geller, Randi went to a major television program
who consulting with him and set up safeguards against cheating. Geller squirmed
and fumbled through a disastrous 22 minute appearance. Try as he might, he was
unable to perform a single feat. He failed spectacularly.
His organization, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), offers a one-million-dollar
prize to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural, paranormal, or occult ability
or event. That prize can be referred to at www.randi.org, an online newsletter
of the JREF which is updated weekly.
What drives James Randi to lead the search for scientific truth? "Acceptance
of nonsense as a harmless aberration can be dangerous to all of us," he
says. "We live in a society that is enlarging the boundaries of knowledge
at an unprecedented rate, and we cannot keep up with much more than a small portion
of what is made available to us. To mix that knowledge with childish notions
of magic and fantasy is to cripple our perception of the world around us. We
must reach for the truth, not for the ghosts of dead absurdities."
In his never-ending search for truth James Randi has exposed a parade of would-be
psychics, mediums, faith healers and the like. In 1986 in the USA, he exposed
Peter Popoff, a very popular TV evangelist with self-proclaimed divine powers.
With help from volunteers, a video camera, and a radio scanner, he showed the
world that Popoff's "power" was actually nothing more than a miniature
receiver hidden in his ear, through which he received instructions from his wife
Elizabeth backstage, who had previously pumped chosen members of the audience
for information.
Randi is a prolific writer, having authored nine books - editions in English,
French, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Polish, Japanese, Hungarian, Chinese, Italian
- and numerous articles and essays for publications such as Time Magazine, Scientific
American Magazine, Technology Review, The New York Times, Ulisse, Experientia,
New Scientist, Nature, and many other scientific and popular journals.
He has written articles and definitions for Encyclopaedia Britannica Medical & Health
Annual, Encyclopedia Americana, and Compton's Encyclopedia. Randi is also regularly
featured on television nationally and internationally, most recently on shows
such as NOVA, DateLine, 20/20, and Larry King. He has had his own television
specials in nine different countries.
He is a regularly requested speaker, having lectured and/or performed at such
places as The White House, Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Princeton, Stanford,
and Yale. He has been a speaker at such organizations as the Exxon Research Club,
General Electric, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mensa, NASA, the National Geographic
Society, the National Science Foundation, and The Smithsonian Institution, to
name only a few.
Our universe and our lives are filled with mysterious and magical things yet
to be discovered. Randi does not object to faith in these wonders as long as
that faith does not insist on being taken as proven. But when blind belief refuses
scientific inquiry, he bristles, "We have fought long and hard to escape
from medieval superstition. I, for one, do not wish to go back."
Full-length profiles of James Randi appeared in the 1998 World Encyclopedia's
Annual Science Supplement, Scientific American Magazine, July, 1995, and in Time
Magazine, June 13, 1988. More information can also be found in most biographical
listings, including the current "Who's Who in America," "Who's
Who in Entertainment," "Who's Who in the East," and the Cambridge "Men
of Achievement."
Learn More About it:
James Randi's web site
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