Science: The Magician And the Think Tank

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SRI claims that it was aware that Geller had "detractors" before he arrived in California. Presumably the California scientists knew that he had been something of a sensation in Israel. In 1970, TIME'S Jerusalem Correspondent Marlin Levin reports, Geller began appearing before soldiers' groups, in private homes and on the stage, performing his repertory of tricks and claiming to have psychokinetic powers. At first he was widely acclaimed; he came under suspicion when a group of psychologists and computer experts from Hebrew University duplicated all of his feats and called him a fraud. Eventually, Geller left the country in disgrace.

Even so, SRI insists that its researchers were not duped. "Whether the subject be a saint or a sinner," said an SRI spokesman, "has nothing to do with our measurements concerning the so-called psychical awareness of individuals." How objective those measurements were may well become apparent this week at a Columbia University colloquium in Manhattan, where Targ is scheduled to report on his studies and show a film of Geller in action.