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→Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR): An odd side-note: Princeton's ESP lab, 1979-2007
:Upon the President, besides the general superintendence, devolves the instruction of the Students, in Theology, Moral Philosophy, Belles Lettres, and Logic; one of the Professors teaches the Greek and Latin languages, the other Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry....
:Upon the President, besides the general superintendence, devolves the instruction of the Students, in Theology, Moral Philosophy, Belles Lettres, and Logic; one of the Professors teaches the Greek and Latin languages, the other Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry....
:There are at present in this college 150 students; but were the institution established upon a more liberal scale... it is probably from its local advantages, that its students would soon outnumber those of any other American college. Situate[sic] midway between New York and Philadelphia, its proximity to both gives it a decided advantage over both Harvard and Yale. To the immense territory south and west of Philadelphia, it is yet the nearest academical institution of any considerable reputation and will certainly, if other things are equal, obtain a preference to those that are two or three hundred miles farther off. The wealthiest families in the Union, and those who scatter money most lavishly, belong to the southern part of it, and if a University can be supported any where, on a liberal scale, they are able to do it. A young man from Georgia, a student at Princeton, informs me that he spent during the first year upwards of £350 sterling<ref>Roughly equivalent to US $21,000 in 2007</ref>, and probably he was not singular in so profuse an expenditure.<ref>Duncan, John Morison (1923), ''Travels Through Part of the United States and Canada in 1818 and 1819,'' [http://books.google.com/books?vid=0yDcQs6WfPHLapsWNXH&id=xSKgCv18VDEC&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=%22princeton+college%22&as_brr=1#PPA169,M1 p. 169]</ref>
:There are at present in this college 150 students; but were the institution established upon a more liberal scale... it is probably from its local advantages, that its students would soon outnumber those of any other American college. Situate[sic] midway between New York and Philadelphia, its proximity to both gives it a decided advantage over both Harvard and Yale. To the immense territory south and west of Philadelphia, it is yet the nearest academical institution of any considerable reputation and will certainly, if other things are equal, obtain a preference to those that are two or three hundred miles farther off. The wealthiest families in the Union, and those who scatter money most lavishly, belong to the southern part of it, and if a University can be supported any where, on a liberal scale, they are able to do it. A young man from Georgia, a student at Princeton, informs me that he spent during the first year upwards of £350 sterling<ref>Roughly equivalent to US $21,000 in 2007</ref>, and probably he was not singular in so profuse an expenditure.<ref>Duncan, John Morison (1923), ''Travels Through Part of the United States and Canada in 1818 and 1819,'' [http://books.google.com/books?vid=0yDcQs6WfPHLapsWNXH&id=xSKgCv18VDEC&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=%22princeton+college%22&as_brr=1#PPA169,M1 p. 169]</ref>
==Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR)==
From 1979 to 2007, a laboratory at Princeton known as the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, conducted "scientific study of consciousness-related physical phenomena," otherwise known as parapsychology or psychic phenomena.<ref>[http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/index.html Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research], PEAR's website</ref> The laboratory was founded by Robert G. Jahn, then Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, who found private donors to finance its work and a small staff.
Most of the research consisted of asking people to attempt to influence machines such as electronic random-number generators. According to a New York Times article about the February 6, 2007 closing of the lab—due, it would appear, mostly to the aging of its founder—they found that "people could alter the behavior of these machines very slightly, changing about 2 or 3 flips out of 10,000." The laboratory published over sixty research reports<ref>[http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/publications.html PEAR publications] PEAR's website</ref>, but had trouble publishing them in peer reviewed journals: “We submitted our data for review to very good journals,” [a staff member] said, “but no one would review it. We have been very open with our data. But how do you get peer review when you don’t have peers?” The article said that "Several expert panels examined PEAR’s methods over the years, looking for irregularities, but did not find sufficient reasons to interrupt the work."<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/science/10princeton.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=304f7be3a3ac11f1&ex=1328763600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss A Princeton Lab on ESP Plans to Close Its Doors]: "2 or 3 flips out of 10,000;" "no one would review it"</ref>
==See also==
==See also==
*[[Institute for Advanced Study]], an independent institution in Princeton, New Jersey
*[[Institute for Advanced Study]], an independent institution in Princeton, New Jersey