South Australian Parapsychologist
Dr Michael Thalbourne
Today we are celebrating the birthday of Adelaide born Parapsychologist, Dr Michael Thalbourne, a person I have found much inspiration from.
Thalbourne was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on March 24th 1955 (His birthday is today), and passed away on the 4th of May 2010. He was educated at the University of Adelaide and the University of Edinburgh.From 1980 until 1987 Thalbourne was employed at the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research at Washington University in St Louis Missouri, USA.
In 1992 found himself back in his hometown of Adelaide where he served as the President of the Australian Institute for Parapsychological Research and was the editor of the Australian Journal of Parapsychology.
Since obtaining his B.A. (Hons) at the University of Adelaide, in 1976, Thalbourne dedicated his career to the study of peoples belief in the paranormal. He spent years trying to make connections between personality and the belief in the paranormal, had some success in doing so with his work into transliminality, which made the connection quite clear through a questionnaire he designed and tested.
Later in his career, he began to work on research conducted into the spiritual energy of Kundalini and its interconnection with the human psyche and the world around us. He also studied the effects of Bipolar and manic-depressive disorders, of which he suffered from himself.
In 1983 sceptic and professional conjurer, James Randi, (who we have covered here recently) perpetrated a hoax on the MacDonnell Laboratory of which Michael Thalbourne was a researcher. The following link will take you to a paper written about the event and the issues it highlighted for the Institution and its experiments and research.
http://www.aiprinc.org/para-c05_Thalbourne_1995.pdf
In 2011 The Parapsychological Association awarded Michael Thalbourne the “Outstanding Contribution Award” posthumously.
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| University of Adelaide |
For a greater in-depth look into Michael Thalbournes career, an Obituary, published by his good friend, Lance Storm is available here:
http://www.parapsych.org/articles/29/123/2011_outstanding_contribution.aspx
Books written by Michael Thalbourne include:
A glossary of terms used in parapsychology (2003),
The common thread between ESP and PK (2004),
Parapsychology in the Twenty-First Century: Essays on the future of Psychical Research (2005).
http://archived.parapsych.org/members/m_thalbourne.html
http://dailygrail.com/Mind-Mysteries/2010/5/Parapsychologist-Michael-Thalbourne-Passes
http://www.skeptic.org.uk/news/2010/2605
© 2013 Eidolon Paranormal
written and researched by
Allen Tiller
www.eidolonparanormal.com.au
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