18 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
18 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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aliases:
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- George Lawrence
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category: "Skeptics & Critics"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Skeptic
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summary: "George Lawrence was an ARPA project manager who, along with two civilian psychologists, Robert Van de Castle and Ray Hyman, traveled to SRI to test Uri Geller's purported psychic abilities."
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---
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George Lawrence was an [[DARPA]] 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].
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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].
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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 [[Central Intelligence Agency]]. Despite Lawrence's denial of having talked to *Time*, Jaroff insisted otherwise[^1].
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
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