Tyrrell, G(eorge) N(ugent) M(erle)(1879-1952)

Mathematician and parapsychologist. He was a member of the council of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), London (1940-52), and was elected its president in 1945. Born in 1879, he was educated at Haileybury School, Seafield Engineering College, and London University (where he attained degrees in physics and mathematics). A pioneer in the study of wireless telegraphy, Tyrrell worked under Guglielmo Marconi. He served in the British Army during World War I.

Tyrrell joined the SPR in 1908. After conducting a series of experiments in telepathy and precognition with Gertrude Johnson, he devoted himself exclusively to psychical research. He undertook further experiments with Johnson in 1924, using quantitative methods, and invented mechanical devices to randomize selection and scoring. His apparatus, unfortunately, was destroyed during an air raid in World War II, and in the years after the war he concentrated on the theoretical and philosophical aspects of extrasensory perception. Out of this period came possibly his single most important volume, Apparitions (1953), cited for its clarity in integrating data. He died October 29, 1952.

Sources:

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

Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. New York: Helix Press, 1964.

Salter, W. H., G. W. Fisk, and Harry H. Price. "G. N. M. Tyrrell and His Contributions to Psychical Research." Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 37 (1953).

Tyrrell, George N. M. Apparitions. London: Society for Psychical Research, 1953. Reprinted in Science and Psychical Phenomena and Apparitions. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1961.

——. "Further Research in Extrasensory Perception." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 44, no. 147 (1936-37).

——. Grades of Significance. N.p., 1930.

——. Homo Faber. N.p., 1951.

——. The Nature of Human Personality. London: Allen & Unwin, 1954.

——. The Personality of Man. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1947.

——. "Presidential Address." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 47, no. 171 (1945).

——. Science and Psychical Phenomena. London, 1938. Reprinted in Science and Psychical Phenomena and Apparitions. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1961.