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+---
+aliases:
+  - George Lawrence
+tags:
+  - Person
+  - Military
+  - ARPA
+---
+George Lawrence was an [[ARPA]] project manager who, along with two civilian psychologists, [[Robert Van de Castle]] and [[Ray Hyman]], traveled to [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] to test [[Uri Geller]]'s purported psychic abilities. Their conclusion, later reported in *Time* magazine, was that anyone who believed in Geller's powers was falling for the "ridiculous"[^1].
+
+Lawrence expressed concern that [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]]'s "own experimental bias in favor of successful outcomes is undermining their objectivity in properly controlled experimental procedures." He opined that Puthoff and Targ were guilty of the same three claims [[Martin Gardner]] had leveled against [[J. B. Rhine]]'s research: loose laboratory controls, skewing of data, and the premise that the attitude of the scientists could negatively influence the subject[^1].
+
+Lawrence told *Time* editor [[Leon Jaroff]] that Geller was a "charlatan" and encouraged the magazine to write an exposé. This unauthorized communication with a reporter was a violation of his security clearance, leading to an investigation by the [[CIA]]. Despite Lawrence's denial of having talked to *Time*, Jaroff insisted otherwise[^1].
+
+## Footnotes
+[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.