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VIEWING MAGNETIC FIELD
BY
G.
B. HOUCK
J.
G.
LAIRD
C.
C. WHITE
PROBLEM
Most individuals
have never seen
a magnetic field even though they are aware
of the effect of one.
During this past year,
the authors became aware that
some people were reported
to be capable of actually seeing what
they thought
to
be magnetic fields.
In fact,
they reported seeing blue coming from one end
and red coming from the other end of
a magnet.
Because this phenomenon does
not
fit
in the authors'
understanding of current models of our physical
reality,
we decided
to carry out
a
simple,
controlled,
scientific experiment to determine
if this phenomenon was repeatable or statistical
in nature.
Also by learning
from the subject who
could
see magnetic fields,
it
is hoped that some day our
physics models will
be expanded.
This
paper
is the documentation of that
experi-
ment and
some recommendations for further experimentation.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
On November
11,
1979,
the authors conducted an experiment where a subject attempted
to correctly identify the polarity of an electromagnet whose polarity was
controlled,
upon
demand,
by
a computer random number generator.
When the subject was ready
for another trial,
she would so
indicate and one of the experimenters would press
a
button which
instructed an Apple
II
computer to .select either a
or
from
an ordered array of 0's and
l's
initially established from a uniform random
number generator.
When
an
0 was selected,
the power was applied to the electro
magnet
so that
the
end which
the
subject was viewing would have
the polarity of
a north
pole.
Similarly, when
the computer selected a
1, the polarity was
switched
to
that of
a
south
pole.
The
subject would
see
red for the north pole and blue
for the
south pole determined using
a
compass.
The color she called out was then
recorded
on
a piece of paper by another experimenter.
One hundred trials were
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made.
The experiment seemed
to require
a
lot of the subject's energy and made
her thirsty.
She had
to take several
breaks during the 100 trials.
It took
approximately two hours
to complete the 100 trials using
the electromagnet
After the completion of the 100 trials,
the authors
had the computer display the
sequence of 0's and l's that it had used.
A direct comparison of the subject's
record with the computer record resulted
in
a 55% correlation,
. However, the first
nine out of nine trials were correct and the first 12 out of T4 trials were
correct.
If the five trials proceeding the beginning of the full
TOO trials are
considered,
the subject obtained 16 out of 10 correct answers.
These five trials
were under the identical conditions of the full
100 trial experiment.
To check the possibility of the subject somehow reading the internals of the
computer,
the subject was asked to repeat the experiment without the power attached
to the electromagnet and simply guess whether the computer had an 0 or
1 for each
'
trial.
This took approximately one hour.
The results showed the subject correctly
guessed 51% of the trials
(100 trials) with
no apparent time displacement (i.e.,
the percentage was not markedly Improved by displacing the sequence either forward
The full
extent of this subject's physic functioning has not been explored.
It
is not claimed that this subject actually sees the magnetic field, but she does
see something which
is related to the polarity of the magnetic field, and she has
a color discriminate.
This ability seemed to go
in streaks during the first 50
trials and then became random thereafter.
There may be many factors such as
fatigue, boredom, etc., which had an effect on this experiment's outcome.
The subject also described the nature of the "magnetic field" which she sees
around a bar magnet and how that changes when magnets are placed in various
positions relative to each other.
These descriptions are included
in this paper.
The overall
results of this experiment are not statistically significant.
However
this could be a result caused by the conduct of the experiment, and more research
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needs
to
be accomplished
to understand what
is
going
on.
At this time,
the
authors know of two other potential
subjects who claim to
have
a similar ability
as the subject
tested.
Many tests could be performed
to
begin
to understand this
phenomenon and
its sensitivity to many parameters
such as magnetic field strength,
lighting conditions,
atmosphere and physical
surrounding of
the magnet,
the
biomedical
state of the subject,
etc.
This paper
is submitted merely
as
a beginning
into what may be one path to
improving the model
of our reality.
BACKGROUND
The authors are engineers.
Jim Laird is
a
radar designer at McDonnell
Douglas
Astronautics Company
(MDAC),
in Huntington Beach,
California, with 26 years of
experience in designing and developing all
types of electronic systems.
Jack Houck
is
a system analyst with MDAC, with 18 years of experience
in advanced engineering
developments of all
types of defense systems.
Chick White worked with Jack and
Jim at MDAC for several
years
(until
1977)
as
a specialist
in electronics.
He
invented
a waterbed vibrator system and formed his own company (Electronic Design
and Development Engineering,
Inc.)/
Jack and Jim have been conducting research related to unexplained phenomenon such
as
"remote viewing"
as defined by Targ and Puthoff.
In this
research on remote
viewing,
several examples have occurred where their subjects have described
phenomena which seems
to correlate
to electromagnetic effects which are not normally
visible.
For example, one subject described smoke rings coming up from a large
dish antenna which was radiating S-band
(2 to
4 GHz) electromagnetic pulses.
Another subject observed
a
brillant light and particles being thrown out
(i.e.»
like
a sparkler)
frorrra nuclear reactor.
Some individuals claim to
see auras,
others claim "out-of-body" experiences where they
"see" their own body.
The
parapsycho logical
,
occult,
and psychology literature
is full
of descriptions of
these phenomena.
The authors
speculate that perhaps these subjects are observing
some unknown aspect of magnetic energy which actually takes
on the appearance of
being solid
fn whatever dimension or reality these subjects
slip
into when they
perform these paranormal
functions.
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In the summer of 1979, Jack was describing some of the observations
he had made
from the remote viewing experiments
to Chick.
Chick then mentioned that his wife,
Janet,
had once demonstrated the ability
to correctly identify the end of a bar
magnet as
he attempted to randomly present different ends of the magnet to her.
In the uncontrolled environment,
a whole host of explanations were possbile from
her seeing imperfections
in the ends of the magnet, receiving the answer telephathi
cally,
to
her being able
to see the magnetic fields.
Tn October T979 during a
meeting of Jim and Jack with
Hal
Puthoff these observations were discussed.
Hal
suggested that Janet be the subject
in
a controlled experiment.
This paper
documents the initial
effort
in Implementing these experiments.
EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT
The Sunday evening prior to the actual
experiment. Jack met with Chieck and Janet
In their residence.
The experimental
procedure and equipment was discussed.
Chick provided all
the equipment for the experiment.
During this meeting, Janet
demonstrated
her ability using several
small
bar magnets and
a
small electro-
magnet.
It was apparent that this activity required intense concentration and
energy for Janet.
She was unusually thirsty.
She found that placing the magnet
on
a white piece of paper with dim lighting aided her.
She also observed that
her digital
watch seemed to interfer so she removed
it.
Also, when anyone was
within approximately 10 feet from where she and the magnet were located,
she felt
that their "fields" also Interfered, making polarity sensing more difficult.
With the bar magnet on
a piece of white paper on the kitchen table and aligned
parallel
with the earth's magnetic field,
Janet described the magnetic fields which
she saw as an hour glass
(3 dimensional)
as shown
in Figure
1.
The hour glass
shape seemed
to neck down at the center of the bar magnet.
The interior of the
hour glass shape was
red near the north
pole and blue near the south pole.
The
fields had <the greatest concentration of color at the center and faded out further
away from the magnet
(in terms of inches).
Figure
was drawn to scale as Janet
drew what
she
saw.
When the magnet was
rotated 90 degrees such that
it was
aligned perpendicular to the earth's magnetic field, both ends of the magnet
became white,
even though
the hour glass shape remained.
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Figure
1.
Field Created By Magnet
When holding two bar magnets
so that they attracted each other,, Janet saw the
fields intersecting as
shown
in
Figure
2 with
a white region
in between where
the fields
intersected.
When
she
held the two bar magnets such that they repulsed
each other,
the fields seemed to become collapsed Tines, as shown
in Figure
with a pitch
black area
in between.
The authors
feel
this data might be valuable
to other researchers.
There seemed
to
be some distortion depending on which pole
of the magnet was pointed toward the earth's north pole.
Further work needs to
be performed
to
understand what Janet
is
seeing.
During the actual
experiment,
the subject,
Janet, sat at the kitchen table looking
at one end of the electromagnet placed on
a piece of white paper.
The electro-
magnet consisted of
a
coil
of 28 gauge wire which
had approximately 12,000 turns,
estimated
to
have
an
inductance of
10 Henrys.
The coil
for this experiment had
no
iron
core.
The two wires
from the
coil
were connected to
a
1/2 volt DC power
supply which was
located approximately
10 feet from the location of the coil
in
another room
(bedroom).
The polarity of the
coil
was switchable using relays
which were
set by an Apple
II
computer.
The
relays were also located
in the
bedroom.
The door
to the bedroom was
closed.
The wires
ran
under
the door.
Another set of wires controlled the switch on
the power supply and
the button
which Chick
pushed each time Janet said
she was
ready for the next
trial.
During
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EARTH MAGNETIC
FIELD LINES
Figure 2.
Attraction Field*
Figure %
Repulsive Fields
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initialization
the computer selected
a set of random numbers equal
to
the number
°‘
tr
to be
run and
storeci
thera
in
an array.
Each time the button was pushed
to
indicate
a
new trial,
the computer selected
a
random number from the array of
preselected random numbers
(either 0 or
1).
The number was
not displayed on the
TV screen.
The trial
number
(e.g.,
T
.
5) was displayed on the TV screen during
the time the electromagnet coil
was activated.
Based on
the selected number
(0
or
1),
the computer selected the desired polarity for the electromagnet.
The
power was removed between
trials.
When Janet gave the indication of color she
saw at the selected end of the magnet.
Jack recorded her response.
After 100 trials
were completed the computer displayed the random number sequence which was then
compared to the
list of Janets
responses.
Figure 4
is a schematic which summarizes
the test setup during the experiment.
Before the actual
experiment was run,
several
groups of 5 and 6 trials were made
to check on the experimental
conditions.
Thirty-six trials were made during the
hour before the actual
experiment
(100 trials).
During that time*
a 60 volt DC
power supply was used and resulted
in the coil
heating
up.
Janet began to report
red most of the time and
indicated that
the blue was very weak and hard
to see.
Jack and Chick suspected the thermal
environment may be affecting what she was
seeing.
Thus-,
a
1/2
volt
DC power supply was used for the actual experiment
after the coil
had cooled down.
Five trials were made just before
the
full
100
trials were started on which Janet scored
4 out of 5 correctly.
TEST RESULTS
The
results of the
100
trial
experiment with
the electromagnet are shown
in Table
1.
The overall
result was
55 correct identifications of the magnet polarity with a
computer 0 corresponding
to Janet seeing red,
and a computer
corresponding to
Janet seeing blue.
These results are
also' plotted
in Figure
5, with the times
she
took
a
rest or had
a drink of water noted.
It
is particularly
impressive that
she correctly
identified the first nine trials successfully and
12 out of the first
14 trials.
If the five trials accomplished just preceding the experiment were
considered,
then
it would be
16 out of
19 trials.
Janet needed
a
rest after
trials of thp official
experiment and as seen
in Figure
5 seemed to have streaks
of hit and misses until
around trial
55.
After that,
her performance seemed
to
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~~
iMoveWiber
II,
1979
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Table
Experiment with Janet White
(With the Magnet)
Janet
Computer
Janet
Computer
Janet
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Blue
Red
0|
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Blue
Red
Blue
Blue
Blue
Blue
Red
Blue
Blue
Blue
Blue
Blue
Blue
Red
Blue
• 1
Blue
Blue
Red
Blue
Blue
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Red
.
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Blue
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Red
Red
'l
k
55 Correct
Blue
J
x
Red
*1
v 45 Correct
Blue 0
J
Computer
jane t
T
I
T
Blue
B1 ue
Blue
Blue
Blue
Blue
Blue
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Blue
Blue
B1 ue
Blue
Red
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Blue
Red
Red
10Q Red
Computer
Q
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behave randomly.
Is this due to fatigue?
What was she seeing during the latter
half of the experiment?
There were times
late
In the experiment where she did
have
a hard time differentiating
the colors and may have guessed.
There seemed
to be after-images of red and black squares getting In her vision some times
Because the experimenters had not programmed the computer to allow her to pass
she was forced to make a decision when she may have preferred to-passr-
After the experiment
(100 trials) was completed,
another 100 trials were made when
Janet was asked
to guess whether the computer had.a zero or one.
For this, the
electromagnet was disconnected.
The results of this experiment
Is recorded
in
Table
2 and also plotted
in Figure
5.
The overall experiment .resulted In
51 correct
answers
(hits) out of the 100 trials.
Also,
this series seemed to behave more
randomly than the results when she used the magnet.
This series went faster
(1
hour)
than
the senes of tr1a1s when “sing the magnet
(2 hours).
Janet said whatever
number came to her.
The experimenters became curious about
the behavior of the random number generator
which seemed
to put out
a string of either zeros or ones for these two experiments.
The number of times
a one came up
is shown
in Figure
6 as a function of the trial
number for both of these series of 100 trials.
It can be observed
in Figure 6
that during the
first 55 numbers
the random number generator seemed
to output more
zeros
than ones but became more random thereafter.
Because these were generated
the beginning of each experiment
(i.e.,
all
100 were determined before trial
number
1),
the possibilities of a bad random number generator or a PK effect on
the random number generator were considered.
Subsequent analysis of the Apple
II
random number generator showed that this behavior was common with or without Janet
m
the
room.
This particular random number generator did seem to output a larger
number of strings of zeros or ones than would normally be expected.
For large
numbers of
trials,,
the random number generator did perform well.
For example,
many times the random number generator was made
to select 10,000 samples and usually
produced between
5,000,
plus and minus
25,
ones.
Thus,
it was concluded that no
PK was affecting
the computer and that further study of the random number generator
performance was
necessary.
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RECOMMENDflT TONS
The speculations of the experimenters were that Janet would obtain a much higher
success
rate when using the magnet than actually resulted.
Because_her. perfor-
mance was so good at
the beginning,
the authors suspect that she can see a color
discriminate between
the polarities of a magnet and the experiment itself may
ave been improperly designed
to demonstrate this phenomenon.
Fatigue and boredom
with this
type of replicate experiment are probably major factors.
Clearly more experimentation
is
required.
Several
other subjects will
be tested
The computer program will
be modified
to allow the subject to pass
if he or she
'
does not have a clear response.
Many variables need to be examined.
This
Is a
simple experiment
to
Implement.
No human knows the sequence of numbers contained
within the computer until after the total
number of selected trials
is completed.
Therefore,
no telepathy or ESP from any other person
involved
in the experiment
enters directly
into
the
results.
This paper documents the beginning of experimentation with a phenomenon which
is not understood.
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