Tischner, Rudolf (1879-1961)

Ophthalmologist of Munich, who entered the ranks of leading German psychical researchers in 1919 with the publication of his Über Telepathie und Hellsehen, one of the groundworks on the subject (translated into English as Telepathy and Clairvoyance, 1925). It was followed in 1920 by a small book on the clairvoyant Ludwig Aub, Einführung in den Okkultismus and Spiritismus, and Monismus und Okkultismus.

Tischner was also the author of many small monographs and of a large historic work: Geschichte der okkultistischen Forschung. Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart (1924), which was published as the second volume to August F. Ludwig's Geschichte der okkultistischen Forschung bis zur Gegenwart … Mitte des 19 Jahrhunderts. It is a comprehensive and careful survey of the history of psychical research. The Society for Psychical Research, London, honored this work by making Tischner a corresponding member. He published a study under the title Fernfühlen und Mesmerismus, (1925) which deals with the experiments of Eugerne Rochas on the exteriorization of sensibility.

With his research, lectures, and propaganda work Tischner did a great deal for the advancement of psychic science in Germany prior to the disruptions of the Nazi era.

His later books included: Der Okkultimus als Natur und Geisteswissenschaft (Occultism as a Natural and Philosophical Science, 1926), Ergebnisse Okkulter Forschung (Results of Occult Research, 1950), and Geschichte der Parapsychologie (History of Parapsychology, 1960). Tischner was among the first to use the term "extrasensory perception" before it was adopted by J. B. Rhine. He died April 24, 1961 at Vierhöfen, Germany.

Sources:

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Tischner, Rudolf. Franz Anton Mesmer: Leben, Werk und Wïrkungen. Munchen: Verlag der Müncher Drucke, 1928.

——. Geschichte der okkultistischen Forschung. Pfülling: Johannes Baum Verlag, 1924.