Skeptical
Inquirer Magazine Names the Ten Outstanding Skeptics of the Century
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Amherst,
N.Y.: In a century filled with UFO sightings, psychic claims, doomsday prophecies,
quack therapies, pseudoscientific gadgetry, conspiracy claims, New Age spiritualism,
and paranormal mystery-mongering, which individuals rank as the ten outstanding
skeptics of the last one hundred years? Who are the brightest champions of science
and reason-exposing deception, uncovering fraud, identifying nonsense, and solving
so-called "mysteries"?
Skeptical
Inquirer magazine polled those who should know best: the Fellows and Consultants
of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
(CSICOP), an international organization of scientists and scholars that has tracked
the paranormal and the pseudoscientific for the past 23 years. Nominations could
be chosen from any combination of science, scholarship, writing, public education,
outreach, investigation, activism, leadership, or other qualities. The only restriction
was that the individual's major contributions have been made in the twentieth
century. The following are the ten individuals receiving the greatest number of
nominations:
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James
Randi -A skeptical investigator of paranormalists like spoonbender Uri
Geller and televangelist Peter Popoff, Randi combines a mastery of conjuring skills,
an irrepressible energy, a sharp critical intelligence, and a fine understanding
of science to expose fraud, deception, and flim-flam wherever it arises. Randi's
lectures and television appearances have entertainingly educated audiences worldwide
about the differences between genuine science and pseudoscience, the methods of
psychic claimants, and the pitfalls of self-deception and gullibility.
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Martin
Gardner -His first book published nearly a half-century ago, Fads and Fallacies
in the Name of Science, influenced and informed generations of scholars and future
skeptics, and became a classic. Essentially an independent scholar but without
academic trappings, the polymathic Gardner keeps tabs on all kinds of topics and
issues in mathematics, science, philosophy, and religion, not to mention the fads
and foibles of paranormalists, fringe scientists, quacks, and pseudoscientists.
For three decades he wrote the popular "Mathematical Games" column for
Scientific American, and has written for Skeptical Inquirer since its inception,
with his "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" column appearing in every issue
since 1983. He followed Fads and Fallacies with later books about pseudoscience
and fringe science, including Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus; The New Age; On the
Wild Side; and Weird Water and Fuzzy Logic.
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Carl
Sagan -The people's astronomer and the public's scientist, Sagan's brilliant
career was foreshortened by death in 1996 at the age of 62. Sagan used his passion
for science, intelligence, charisma, and formidable literary and communication
skills to turn several generations of young people on to the wonders of science
and the rewards of critical thinking. He had a unique talent to inspire wonder
and awe at the true mysteries of science and the temptations of wishful thinking
and self-deception. His last book published before his death, The Demon-Haunted
World, ranged over late-twentieth-century fringe science and warned of the perils
of a public unable to distinguish real science from bogus science.
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Paul
Kurtz -A philosopher and intellectual with a practical bent and special
talent for visionary leadership, Kurtz founded CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer magazine
in 1976 while a professor of philosophy (now emeritus) at the State University
of New York at Buffalo. Kurtz also founded Prometheus Books, which publishes over
100 books a year in philosophy, science, skepticism, humanism, freethought, and
ethics. With diplomatic skills and an internationalist perspective, he has an
uncanny ability to bring diverse people together, organizing over the decades
dozens of international conferences and helping to launch many skeptical organizations
across the world. As active as Kurtz has and continues to be, he is also a prolific
scholar, having authored or edited over thirty books on philosophy and science,
and having served for more than two decades as an important public intellectual.
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Ray
Hyman -- Considered
the leading constructive critic of academic parapsychology research, Hyman is
a longtime professor of psychology (now emeritus) at the University of Oregon.
He has taught about the psychology of belief and self-deception and conducted
painstaking critical analyses of published parapsychology experiments. An amateur
magician, he has critiqued experiments with highly visible psychics and other
psychic claimants conducted by private scientific and government organizations.
Despite intense controversies, he has managed to maintain the respect of both
parapsychologists and fellow skeptics. As a well-informed outside critic, he is
often credited with helping raise the quality parapsychological research. He has
conducted detailed critical analyses of Ganzfeld experiments-research that parapsychologists
find compelling but he so far does not. In 1995 he was one of two experts the
CIA contracted for an outside evaluation of the military's twenty-year program
to see if alleged remote viewing could assist with intelligence gathering. His
essentially negative evaluation was reflected in the sponsor's report.
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Philip
J. Klass -Sometimes called "The Sherlock Holmes of UFOlogy,"
Klass has been the world's leading skeptical investigator of UFO claims for well
over three decades. In a field dominated by proponents and wishful believers,
he and a few colleagues have been the almost lone voice of careful, reasoned analysis
and critical thinking. His UFO investigations have always been a sideline to his
nearly thirty-four-year career as a distinguished Washington-based senior editor
for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. Notable books: UFOs Identified;
UFOs Explained; UFOs: The Public Deceived; UFO Abductions: A Dangerous Game; Bringing
UFOs Down to Earth (for young readers); and The Real Roswell Crashed-Saucer Coverup.
He is also founder and editor of Skeptic's UFO Newsletter.
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Isaac
Asimov -The master science
popularizer of his time, Asimov became famous at an early age for his science
fiction, and soon turned to science fact. He was a Ph.D. biochemist and polymath,
and from the 1950s until his death in 1992, he wrote prolifically about every
aspect of science-and with enormous clarity, directness, and charm. Possibly no
one has ever amassed a body of written work simultaneously so voluminous (nearly
500 books), diverse, and substantive. He loved the historical approach, and his
works always put scientific progress into historical perspective. Asimov was a
steadfast defender of science and reason and foe of nonsense, superstition, and
pseudoscience. He blasted astrology, and creationism. A few of his notable books:
Asimov's New Guide to Science; Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science;
The Roving Mind (dedicated to CSICOP); and (science fiction) the Foundation series,
I, Robot, The Martian Way, and The Gods Themselves.
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Bertrand
Russell -One of the
leading philosophers of the twentieth century, Russell wrote widely, covering
topics including epistemology, psychology, morals, education, and political and
social reform. He believed that logic was capable of untangling many of the problems
that have vexed philosophers throughout history. Russell was a defender of the
humanist outlook and believed that despite mankind's possible extinction by nuclear
warfare, we must confront the indifferent or hostile universe and stand for our
ideals. He received the Nobel prize for literature in 1950. His writings include
The Problems of Philosophy, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, Principia
Mathematica, Logic and Knowledge, Sceptical Essays, and Mysticism and Logic and
Other Essays.
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Harry
Houdini -The world's
best-known magician and escape artist, is also the twentieth century's most famous
ghostbuster. Houdini used his knowledge of magic to expose the secrets of such
wonderworkers as "the Spaniard with X-ray eyes," an "Egyptian Miracle
Man," and a host of spiritualist mediums offering "materializations"
and other séance deceptions. Houdini challenged mediums to perform under
test conditions and offered various inducements for demonstrations of genuine
psychic phenomena, including $10,000 as part of a Scientific American reward.
His efforts-including his books A Magician Among the Spirits and Miracle Mongers
and Their Methods-caused spiritualist devotee Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to break
off their friendship. After Houdini's untimely death on Halloween, 1926, his wife
Bess attempted to contact his spirit through mediums, seeking a pre-arranged message.
Houdini's life is celebrated in countless movies, books, and other venues, including
annual Halloween séances at which-although he is invariably a no-show-Houdini's
legacy is kept alive.
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Albert
Einstein -As a young
physicist in 1905, Einstein published papers on three topics that revolutionized
our view of the universe. One (for which he later won the Nobel Prize) explained
the photoelectric effect in terms of the then-new quantum theory of Max Planck.
One provided the first mathematical analysis of Brownian motion. And one propounded
the special theory of relativity, after which physics would never be the same.
By assuming a constant velocity of light, the work explained the earlier Michelson-Morley
experiment, deduced the length-contraction and mass-enlargement effects of FitzGerald
and Lorentz, and abolished the notion of absolute time. This was followed by a
short published note working out the equivalence of mass and energy in the famous
equation E=mc2. His crowning achievement came in 1915 with publication of his
paper on the general theory of relativity, a wholly new theory of gravitation
based on the curvature of space-time. When observations confirmed Einstein's predictions,
his reputation as the preeminent scientist of the century was assured. Many polls
conducted in 1999 chose Einstein as the most influential person of the twentieth
century.
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