James Randi Bio (Biography)
Real name:
Randall James Hamilton Zwinge
Date of birth:
August 7. 1928
Place of birth:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Astrology Sign:
Leo
Tags:
Biography
James Randi is a famous skeptic. He is known for debunking claims of the supernatural and is probably best known for the one million dollar prize he has offered for conclusive evidence of any supernatural power or event (this is called the James Randi Educational Foundation's Million Dollar Challenge).
James Randi was born Randall Zwinge in Toronto, Ontario in the year 1928. His birthday is the seventh of August. When James Randi was a teenager he was interested in magic (he would grow up to become a stage magician as well as a famous skeptic). He was introduced to the common trick employed by psychics and magicians of stating an assumption which may or may not be true then crediting it to magical powers only after being confirmed right, or else finding some way to quickly laugh it off or distract the audience.
Since the age of eighteen, James Randi has worked as a stage magician, specializing during his early years in escapes from sealed containers, straightjackets, safes and jail cells. In the early seventies, James Randi became better known as a skeptic when he wrote the book "The Magic of Uri Geller" and spoke publicly against purported psychic Uri Geller, which was well documented in the media. The fame that James Randi received from this was greater than the substantial fame he had achieved in the magic community, and he became known best as an exposer of supernatural hoaxes to the mainstream audience. Over the following years he continued to write several books explaining how various hoaxes were performed and acted against specific "psychic researchers" and faith healers, detailing the techniques that they used to make it clear that they were frauds. He also established the famous million dollar prize for any conclusive proof of supernatural events or powers; a prize which has never been awarded and he expects never to award. The prize was originally $1000 in the early sixties when James Randi first entered the public eye as a skeptic, but has since risen to one million.
As of early 2007 James Randi continues to work as a skeptic and has recently changed the rules of his long standing million dollar challenge to rule out all applicants that are not well known and established, in order to waste less time on people who are crazy or not well known.
James Randi was born Randall Zwinge in Toronto, Ontario in the year 1928. His birthday is the seventh of August. When James Randi was a teenager he was interested in magic (he would grow up to become a stage magician as well as a famous skeptic). He was introduced to the common trick employed by psychics and magicians of stating an assumption which may or may not be true then crediting it to magical powers only after being confirmed right, or else finding some way to quickly laugh it off or distract the audience.
Since the age of eighteen, James Randi has worked as a stage magician, specializing during his early years in escapes from sealed containers, straightjackets, safes and jail cells. In the early seventies, James Randi became better known as a skeptic when he wrote the book "The Magic of Uri Geller" and spoke publicly against purported psychic Uri Geller, which was well documented in the media. The fame that James Randi received from this was greater than the substantial fame he had achieved in the magic community, and he became known best as an exposer of supernatural hoaxes to the mainstream audience. Over the following years he continued to write several books explaining how various hoaxes were performed and acted against specific "psychic researchers" and faith healers, detailing the techniques that they used to make it clear that they were frauds. He also established the famous million dollar prize for any conclusive proof of supernatural events or powers; a prize which has never been awarded and he expects never to award. The prize was originally $1000 in the early sixties when James Randi first entered the public eye as a skeptic, but has since risen to one million.
As of early 2007 James Randi continues to work as a skeptic and has recently changed the rules of his long standing million dollar challenge to rule out all applicants that are not well known and established, in order to waste less time on people who are crazy or not well known.