- James Randi
James Randi (born August 7, 1928), stage name The Amazing Randi, is a stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge, in Toronto, Canada, Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF).
- Pz Myers
Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers (born March 9 1957) is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris and a science blogger via his blog, "Pharyngula" (previously "Pharyngula.org"). He is currently an associate professor of biology at Morris, works in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and has a particular interest in cephalopods.
- Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer , as head of one of America's leading skeptic organizations, and as a powerful activist and essayist in the service of this operational form of reason, is an important figure in American public life. ...
- Michael Behe
Michael J. Behe , who received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978, is a professor of biological sciences at Pennsylvania's Lehigh University. His current research involves the roles of design and natural selection in building protein structure. His book Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution is available in paperback (Touchstone Books, 1998).
- Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (b. October 21, 1914, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a popular American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing magic (conjuring), pseudoscience, literature (especially Lewis Carroll), philosophy, and religion. He wrote the "Mathematical Games" column in "Scientific American" from 1956 to 1981 and has published over 60 books.
- Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz (born December 21, 1925 in Newark, New Jersey) is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), but is best known for his prominent role in the United States skeptical community. He is founder and chairman of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, formerly the "Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal" (CSICOP), the Council for Secular Humanism, the Center for Inquiry and Prometheus Books.
- Rupert Sheldrake
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 75 scientific papers and ten books. A former Research Fellow of the Royal Society, he studied natural sciences at Cambridge University, where he was a Scholar of Clare College, took a double first class honours degree and was awarded the University Botany Prize. He then studied philosophy at Harvard University, where he was a Frank Knox Fellow, before returning to Cambridge, where he took a Ph.D. in biochemistry.
- Ghost Hunting
"Ghost hunting" is the process of investigating locations said to be haunted. Typically, a ghost "hunting party" will involve 4-8 individuals who work as a team to collect evidence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters usually record data in a scientific manner, making observation using electronic equipment of various types, such as; EMF Meters, digital thermometers, infrared and night vision cameras, handheld video cameras, digital audio recorders, and computers.
- Gillian McKeith
Gillian McKeith (born 1959) is a Scottish nutritionist, television presenter, and writer. She fronts Channel 4's "You Are What You Eat" and Granada Television's "Dr Gillian McKeith's Feel Fab Forever" in the UK. She writes a weekly column for "Reveal" magazine and is the author of a number of books about nutrition, including "You Are What You Eat: The Plan That Will Change Your Life" (2004).
- Robert Todd Carroll
Robert Todd Carroll (1945-), Ph.D., is an American writer and academic, acting as a philosophy professor and chairman of the Philosophy Department at Sacramento City College. Carroll has authored several books and skeptical essays. A longtime advocate of atheism, scientific skepticism, and critical thinking, in 1994 he set up the Skeptic's Dictionary online, initially consisting of fewer than fifty articles, mostly on logical fallacies and pseudoscience.
- John Edward
John Edward McGee, Jr. (born October 19, 1969), better known as John Edward, is an American author, former ballroom dancing instructor and television personality who describes himself as a psychic medium. He is best known for his TV shows "Crossing Over" and "John Edward Cross Country", which are premised on Edward communicating with the spirits of the audience members' deceased relatives.
- Marcello Truzzi
Marcello Truzzi (September 6, 1935-February 2, 2003) was a professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University, founding co-chairman of Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, a founder of the Society for Scientific Exploration, and director for the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research. Truzzi was an investigator of various protosciences and pseudosciences and, as fellow CSICOP cofounder Paul Kurtz dubbed him, …
- Victor J. Stenger
Victor J. Stenger (born January 291935) is emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. Stenger used to work in particle physics but is principally known as a critic and skeptic of Intelligent Design and other ideas of pseudoscience. He has published a number of books intended for general audiences on the subjects of physics and cosmology and philosophy, religion, …
- Phillip E. Johnson
Phillip E. Johnson (born 1940) is a retired UC Berkeley American law professor and author. He became a born-again Christian as a tenured professor. He is considered the father of the intelligent design movement, which criticizes the theory of evolution, and promotes intelligent design, as an alternative. Johnson also denies the predominant scientific view that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the sole cause of AIDS (see AIDS reappraisal).
- Robert L. Park
Robert L. (Bob) Park is a professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park and was associated with the American Physical Society. Park is most noted for his commentaries on pseudoscience such as telepathy and homeopathy in his popular book "Voodoo Science". He is also seen in the media as an outspoken critic of manned spaceflight, efforts to colonize space, and the prototype U.S. National Missile Defense.
- Immanuel Velikovsky
Immanuel Velikovsky (June 10, 1895 (NS) - November 17, 1979) is best known as the author of a number of controversial books on prehistory, in particular, the US bestseller "Worlds in Collision", published in 1950. Earlier, he played a role in the founding of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was a respected psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
- William A. Dembski
William Dembski Researcher, Writer A mathematician and philosopher, William Dembski is a senior fellow with Seattle's Discovery Institute. Dr. Dembski has published articles in mathematics, philosophy, and theology journals and is the author/editor of more than ten books.
- James van Praagh
James Van Praagh (b. August 23 1958, Bayside, New York) is a best selling author, who describes himself as a medium with the ability to communicate with spirits of the dead. Van Praagh has written several books dealing with the subject of parapsychology. From 2002 to 2003, he hosted a syndicated daytime talk show entitled "Beyond With James Van Praagh." He subsequently partnered with CBS to produce several tv-movies and mini-series based on his books, …
- Erich von Däniken
Erich Anton Paul von Däniken is a controversial Swiss author best known for his books about extraterrestrial influence on human culture since prehistoric times, that helped inspire the New Age movement. He is one of the key figures responsible for popularizing the paleocontact and ancient astronaut hypotheses. There were numerous forerunners to von Däniken in the field but he is the best-known and has sold the most books about these hypotheses.
- Henry M. Morris
Henry Madison Morris, Ph.D. (October 6 1918 – February 25 2006) was an American young earth creationist, Christian apologist and hydraulic engineer. As founder of the Creation Research Society and the Institute of Creation Research, he is considered by many to be "the father of modern creation science."
- Chris French
Christopher C. French BA PhD CPsychol FBPsS FRSA is a psychologist and vocal skeptic specialising in the psychology of paranormal beliefs and experiences, cognition and emotion. He is currently Professor of psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, is head of their Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit which he founded in the year 2000 and is the co-editor of "The Skeptic" (UK) magazine with Victoria Hamilton.
- Masaru Emoto
is an author known for his controversial claim that if human thoughts are directed at water before it is frozen, images of the resulting water crystals will be beautiful or ugly depending upon whether the thoughts were positive or negative. Emoto claims this can be achieved through prayer, music or by attaching written words to a container of water. Since 1999 Emoto has published several volumes of a work titled "Messages from Water", …
- Tom Bethell
Tom Bethell (born 1936) is an journalist specializing in economic issues, known for his support of the market economy, political conservatism, and unorthodox science. Born and raised in England, Bethell was educated at Downside School and the University of Oxford. He is a senior editor of the "The American Spectator", correspondent for "National Review", and member of the Hoover Institution.
- Philip J. Klass
Philip Julian Klass (November 8 1919-August 9 2005) was born in Des Moines, Iowa and died in Merritt Island, Florida. He was an electrical engineer by training, and also a journalist, but he is probably best known as a leading debunker of UFOs, arguing especially against the extraterrestrial hypothesis. In the ufological and skeptical communities, Klass tends to inspire strongly polarized appraisals. Klass has been called the "Sherlock Holmes of UFOlogy".
- Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was a biologist and agronomist who was dictator of Soviet biology under Joseph Stalin. Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of the hybridization theories of Russian horticulturist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, and adopted them into a powerful political scientific movement termed Lysenkoism. His unorthodox experimental research in improved crop yields earned the support of Soviet leadership, …
- Carl Baugh
Carl Edward Baugh (born October 21, 1936) is an American young earth creationist. He and several others are known for claiming to have discovered human and dinosaur footprints together in rocks near the Paluxy River in Texas. Baugh's "research" has put him at odds with other young earth creationists. His claims are rejected by the scientific community as pseudoscience.
- Alex Chiu
Alexander Yuan-Chun Chiu (born February 8, 1971) is a San Francisco, California businessman who has invented a number of products that he claims achieve remarkable results in healing. He has compared his achievements to those of Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla.
- Richard C. Hoagland
Richard C. Hoagland (born April 25, 1945) is a proponent of fringe theories on astronomical topics, as well as a number of conspiracy theories connected to the space program. His major focus is on previous advanced civilizations in the solar system, in particular on Mars and the Moon. His theories are not widely supported by mainstream astronomers.
- Albert Abrams
Albert Abrams (1863-1924) was a quack and a fraud, posing as a doctor in San Francisco, whose tool for gaining profit from the gullible was a variety of "electricity therapy" he called ERA, or Electronic Reactions of Abrams.
- Jon-Erik Beckjord
Jon-Erik Beckjord is a San Francisco-based paranormal investigator and photographer known for his far-reaching ideas regarding such phenomena as UFOs, crop circles, the Loch Ness Monster, and, his specialty, Bigfoot. Because of his speculation that creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot may be interdimensional aliens, he is considered a fringe theorist, not only by skeptics, but also by the vast majority of his fellow cryptozoologists.
- John Kanzius
John Kanzius, a former broadcast executive from Pennsylvania, attracted media attention in 2007 upon claims to having developed a way to produce energy by burning saltwater, by means of a radio frequency generator that releases the oxygen and hydrogen from saltwater and create an intense flame. He states that the discovery was accidental while researching the use of radio waves for the treatment of cancer.
- Zetatalk
ZetaTalk is a website that was started in 1995 by self-proclaimed contactee Nancy Lieder, who claims to channel messages from extra-terrestrials who refer to themselves as the Zetas (from the Zeta Reticuli star system; see Betty and Barney Hill) through an implant in her brain. Lieder states she had been chosen to warn mankind about Planet X, which would sweep through the solar system in May 2003, causing a pole shift that will destroy most of humanity.
- Royal Rife
Royal Raymond Rife (May 16, 1888 - August 5, 1971) became known for his claim of finding a cure for terminal cancer and many other diseases by means of his "beam ray" device, which was supposed to work by means of 'devitalizing' pathogens using resonance on constituent chemicals (integral in their structural makeup) with an induced frequency. Information and key parts for the construction of many of Rife's original instruments are missing or lost.
- Lloyd Pye
Lloyd Pye (1946-) is an American author and researcher largely concerned with an alternative theory of the origin of human life, belonging to a field which he terms "alternative knowledge". Pye is author of four books, including the best selling and most well known "Everything You Know Is Wrong - Book One: Human Origins." He also conducts original research into his theories, gives lectures, …
- Arthur de Gobineau
Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau was a French aristocrat, novelist and man of letters who became famous for developing the racialist theory of the Aryan master race in his book "An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races" (1853-1855).
- Christopher Evans
Dr Christopher Riche Evans (1931 - October 10, 1979) was a British psychologist and computer scientist. Evans entered the field of computer science after joining the National Physical Laboratory in the mid 1950s. In 1979, he wrote a book about the oncoming microcomputer revolution, "The Mighty Micro: The Impact of the Computer Revolution" (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, ISBN 0-575-02708-8), which included predictions for the future up to the year 2000.
- David Wilcock
David Wilcock is a professional intuitive consultant, clairvoyant, visionary, channeller, and popular speaker. He has appeared on television interviews and a large number of radio talk shows (like Coast to Coast AM), lectured in the United States and Japan, and is author of a number of magazine articles, an online book, and co-author of "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce", …
- William A. Tiller
William A. Tiller, Ph.D. is professor emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Tiller appears in the film "What the Bleep Do We Know!?." His seminal book is the 1997 "Science and Human Transformation", which postulates the existence of subtle energies, beyond the four fundamental forces, which act on the human consciousness.
- Jasmuheen
Jasmuheen (born 1957 as Ellen Greve) is an Australia based advocate of what she calls 'pranic nourishment', sometimes referred to as breatharianism, or living without food. She makes a living by appearing at New Age style conferences and selling self-penned internet writings that promote this idea. She claims to be able to live without consuming food herself, but has never demonstrated this and refuses to do so.
- Bob Cornuke
Dr. Robert Cornuke, commonly referred to as Bob Cornuke, is the president of the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute (BASE), of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A former Costa Mesa police officer, Cornuke is a self-styled Biblical archaeologist and the author of six books on biblical history based on his explorations over the last 20 years.