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This article is from the Scientific Skepticism FAQ, by Paul Johnson Paul@treetop.demon.co.uk with numerous contributions by
others.
0.5: Who are some prominent skeptics?
James "The Amazing" Randi is a professional stage magician who spends
much time and money debunking paranormal claims. He used to offer a
reward of $10,000 (briefly augmented to $100,000 by a TV company some
years ago) to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal powers under
controlled conditions. Unfortunately he has had to exhaust that fund
to pay legal expenses in the series of lawsuits that have been brought
against him since 1988. Anyone who wants to contribute to his defense
can do so via:
The Randi Fund
3555 West Reno Street
Suite L
Las Vegas, NV 89118
U.S.A.
Checks should be made payable to The Randi Fund.
The lawsuit by Geller against Randi has now finished. Geller was
ordered to pay costs of $150,000. However he has not yet done so,
and Randi is still in debt for his legal costs. There is a
mailing list for updates on the situation, which originates from the
account <geller-hotline@ssr.com>. To subscribe, you should send mail
to <geller-hotline-request@ssr.com>.] James Randi can also be
reached directly at <76702.3507@compuserve.com>, and has a Web page
at <http://www.best.com/~ragaisis/randi/randi.html>.
Martin Gardner is an author, mathematician and amateur stage magician
who has written several books dealing with paranormal phenomena,
including "Science: Good, Bad and Bogus" and "Fads and Fallacies in
the Name of Science".
Philip J. Klass retired after thirty-five years as a Senior Editor of
"Aviation Week and Space Technology" magazine, specializing in
avionics. He is a founding fellow of CSICOP, and was named a Fellow of
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He has
won numerous awards for his technical journalism. His principal books
are:
UFO Abductions, A Dangerous Game (Prometheus, 1988)
UFOs, The Public Deceived (Prometheus, 1983)
UFOs Explained (Random House, 1974)
Susan Blackmore holds a Ph.D in parapsychology, but in the course of her
Ph.D research she became increasingly disillusioned and is now highly
skeptical of paranormal claims.
Ray Hyman is a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon.
He is one of the major external, skeptical critics of parapsychology.
In 1986, he and parapsychologist Charles Honorton engaged in a
detailed exchange about Honorton's ganzfeld experiments and
statistical analysis of his results which was published in the Journal
of Parapsychology. A collection of Hyman's work may be found in his
book The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research,
1989, Prometheus. This includes "Proper Criticism", an influential
piece on how skeptics should engage in criticism, and "'Cold Reading':
How to Convince Strangers that You Know All About Them."
James Alcock is a professor of psychology at York University in
Toronto. He is the author of the books Parapsychology: Science
or Magic?, 1981, Pergamon, and Science and Supernature: A Critical
Appraisal of Parapsychology, 1990, Prometheus.
Joe Nickell is a former private investigator, a magician, and
an English instructor at the University of Kentucky. He is the
author of numerous books on paranormal subjects, including Inquest
on the Shroud of Turin, 1982, Prometheus. He specializes in
investigating individual cases in great detail, but has recently
done some more general work, critiquing crop circles, spontaneous
human combustion, and psychic detectives.
Isaac Asimov wrote a great deal on skeptical issues. He had a regular
column in _Fantasy and Science Fiction_, and collections of essays
from it have been published. Some of these essays are on assorted
crackpottery, like UFO's, Velikovsky, creationism, and so forth. They
have titles like "Worlds in Confusion" (Velikovsky), "Look Long upon a
Monkey" (creationism), "Armies of the Night" (crackpottery in
general), "The Rocketing Dutchmen" (UFO's), and so forth.; these are
usually on a rather general sort of level.
Marcello Truzzi was one of the founders of CSICOP, but broke away from
the organisation when it became too "dry" for him (see section 0.6.1 on
wet vs. dry skeptics). He now publishes the "Zetetic Scholar" on an
occasional basis. He can be contacted at the Dept. of Sociology,
Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, or at P.O. Box 1052,
Ann Arbor, MI 48106. [Does anyone know if this address is still good?
PAJ]
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