Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR)

The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) program was founded in 1979 by Robert G. Jahn, a physicist, engineer, and former dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, to pursue the study of the interaction of human consciousness with various mechanical devices and to measure the effects of such interaction. The ultimate goal was better understanding of the role of consciousness in establishing physical reality.

PEAR has emphasized research on attempts by humans to affect the behavior of various mechanical, electrical, and other devices apart from mundane physical forces. Utilizing various sophisticated machines that generally give random outputs, researchers found that various subjects had been able to produce outputs that varied considerably from expected random results. Among the more interesting experiments were those involving people located at some distance from the machine being affected, pairs of people with emotional bonds, and experiments in which the results were produced either prior to or after the actual attempt to make changes occurred.

PEAR also has become involved in the popular remote viewing experimentation that has dominated much parapsychological research through the 1980s and 1990s. PEAR experiments tended to be based on telepathy (rather than clairvoyance), as the experiments were set up between a recipient at one location attempting to reproduce the images perceived by a second participant who was at another location. Researchers also ran a lengthy remote viewing experiment using Urquardt Castle at Loch Ness in Scotland as a target. Repeated positive effects have been reported from these experiments.

The results of two decades of work, demonstrating the correlation of human intention and physical effects, has led Jahn and his associates to the conclusion that a larger model of reality exists, one that provides for an active role of consciousness in controlling the physical world. Jahn has called for his colleagues to alter their methodology based upon the phenomena he has explored.

The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program is headquartered at C-131, Engineering Quadrangle, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544. It maintains an Internet site at http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/index.html.

Sources:

Dunn, Brenda J., and R. G. Jahn. "Experiments in Remote Human/Machine Interactions." Journal for Scientific Exploration 6, no. 4 (1993): 311-32.

Jahn, R. G., and B. J. Dunne. Margins of Reality: The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.

Jahn, R. G., B. J. Dunne, and R. D. Nelson. "Engineering Anomalies Research." Journal for Scientific Exploration 1, no. 1 (1987): 15-26.

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research.http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/index.html. May 20, 2000.