Rayleigh, an accomplished experimental scientist, recognized that there was a difference between ordinary physical phenomenon and psychical phenomena, which “cannot be reproduced at pleasure and submitted to systematic experimental control” (Lindsay 1970, p. 236). But he pointed out that in the history of science there were other cases in which rare sporadic phenomena, contradicting standard scientific opinion, eventually came to be accepted as real. He gave the example of meteors. Before early nineteenth century, scientists refused to believe reports of stones falling from the sky. Rayleigh observed: “The witnesses of such an event have been treated with the disrespect usually shown to reporters of the extraordinary, and have been laughed at for their supposed delusions: this is less to be wondered at when we remember that the witnesses of a fall have usually been few in number, unaccustomed to exact observation, frightened by what they both saw and heard, and have had a common tendency towards exaggeration and superstition” (Lindsay 1970, p. 236). But eventually scientists did come to accept the reality of meteorites. Rayleigh stated, “I commend this history to the notice of those scientific men who are so sure that they understand the character of nature’s operations as to feel justified in rejecting without examination reports of occurrences which seem to conflict with ordinary experience” (Lindsay 1970, p. 237).
To his scientific contemporaries, Rayleigh said, “If my words could reach them, I would appeal to serious inquirers to give more attention to the work of this Society, conducted by experienced men and women, including several of a sceptical turn of mind, and not to indulge in hasty conclusions on the basis of reports in the less responsible newspaper press or on the careless gossip of ill-informed acquaintances. Many of our members are quite as much alive to a priori difficulties as any outsider can be” (Lindsay 1970, p. 239).
Pierre and marie Curie
Marie curie and her husband Pierre curie are famous for their discoveries in physics, which resulted in two nobel Prizes for Marie and one for Pierre. But their extensive research into paranormal phenomena is far less well known. In the late years of the nineteenth century, Pierre curie was investigating the mysteries of ordinary magnetism and simultaneously became aware of the spiritualistic experiments of other European scientists, such as charles Richet and camille flammarion, whose work we shall consider later in this chapter. Pierre curie initially thought that systematic investigations into the paranormal would help him with some unanswered questions about magnetism (Hurwic 1995, p. 65). He wrote to his fiancée Marie, whom he married in 1895, “I must admit that those spiritual phenomena intensely interest me. I think that in them are questions that deal with physics” (Hurwic 1995, p. 66). Pierre curie’s notebooks from this period show he read many books on spiritualism (Hurwic 1995, p. 68).
Ten years later, Pierre curie’s interests had turned, under the influence of his wife, from magnetism to radioactivity. He again thought that spiritualism might provide some insight into some of the problems of physics, and the couple started going again to séances. Historian Anna Hurwic noted in her biography of Pierre curie, “He thought it possible to discover in spiritualism the source of an unknown energy that would reveal the secret of radioactivity. for this reason, probably, he used the same experimental methods for studying spiritualism that he used all the time in radioactivity, especially the measure of ionization of atmospheric air in a room. . . . curie did not go to séances as a mere spectator, and his goal certainly was not to communicate with some spirits. He saw the séances as scientific experiments, tried to monitor the different parameters, took detailed notes of every observation. He was really intrigued by Eusapia Paladino” (Hurwic 1995, p. 247).
About some séances with Eusapia, Pierre curie wrote to physicist Georges Gouy in a letter dated July 24, 1905 (Hurwic 1995, p. 248): “We had at the Psychology Society a few séances with the medium Eusapia Paladino. It was very interesting, and truly those phenomena that we have witnessed seemed to us to not be some magical tricks—a table lifted four feet above the floor, movements of objects, feelings of hands that pinched you or caressed you, apparitions of light. All this in a room arranged by us, with a small number of spectators all well known and without the presence of a possible accomplice. cheating would only be possible if the medium had extraordinary abilities as a magician. But how to explain the different phenomena when we are holding her hands and legs, and the lighting of the room is sufficient to see everything going on?”
curie kept elaborate notes on the séances, which Marie also attended. About a séance on July 6, he wrote, “The table goes four feet in the air for one second, then falls down violently” (Hurwic 1995, p. 249). On April 6, 1906, he noted (Hurwic 1995, p. 250): “Table lifted up four feet. . . complete control [of Paladino] by myself. . . . lateral movements of the table without contact; excellent observation on both sides.” Hurwic wrote (1995, p. 250): “We can judge to what extent he was believing in those phenomena by the fact that he thought to include them in his official research program.”
On April 14, 1906, Pierre wrote to Georges Gouy: “We are working, M. curie and me, to precisely dose the radium by its own emanations; it does not seem much work but we have been at it for many months and only now starting to get some results. We had a few new ‘séances’ with Eusapia Paladino (we already had séances with her last summer). The result is that those phenomena exist for real and I can’t doubt it any more. It is unbelievable but it is thus, and it is impossible to negate it after the séances that we had in conditions of perfect monitoring” (Hurwic 1995, pp. 263–264). He then went on to describe how the medium had manifested bodily limbs, in addition to the other phenomena described above. Pierre curie then told Guoy, “I would like you to witness some séances of this kind and I don’t doubt that after a few good séances that you will be also convinced” (Hurwic 1995, p. 264). Like Rayleigh, curie admitted that the phenomena could not always be reproduced, but he was hopeful that a determined program of research would yield more results. He concluded (Hurwic 1995, p. 264), “There is, according to me a completely new domain of facts and physical states of space of which we presently have no idea,” Hurwic herself noted (1995, p. 263), “coming from an experimental scientist, it is a surprising judgement.”
Pierre curie’s interest in spiritualism continued to the time of his death in a road accident on April 19, 1906. Recollecting events on the day before her husband’s death, Marie described a talk between french mathematician Jules Henri Poincaré and Pierre: “At one point, Eusapia was the subject of the conversation and the phenomena that she produces. Poincaré was objecting with a sceptical smile, curious of new things, while you (Pierre) were pleading the reality of the phenomena. I was looking at your face while you were talking, and once more I was admiring your nice head, your charming words, enlightened by your smile. It was the last time that I was hearing you express your ideas” (Hurwic