Helmut Schmidt (parapsychologist)
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Helmut Schmidt is a German-born parapsychologist. In the early 1970s he pioneered research into the effects of human consciousness on machines called random number generators or random event generators at the Rhine Research Center Institute for Parapsychology.
Schmidt's early psychokinesis experiments involved machines with one red and one green light. Subjects would attempt to make one light illuminate more than another. Schmidt claimed success rates of 1–2% above what would be expected at random over a large number of trials, and claims that this has been replicated by at least 75 different labs worldwide.
According to Dr. Richard Broughton of the Institute for Parapsychology: "Schmidt and those who followed him caused a fundamental shift in how we perceive psychokinesis."
About 1977 or 1978 Schmidt presented his results to a meeting of the American Physical Society. Several errors in the design of the experiment were found, as well as instances of improper use of statistical methods. The APS wanted to conduct definitive tests of Schmidt's results, starting with having Dr. Ray Hyman observe a series of his tests. However, after the APS meeting Schmidt quit doing experiments (Randi 1982:234-38).
References
- James Randi (1982). Flim-Flam!. Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-198-3