James Randi, former magician turned debunker of paranormal claims, gave a talk on magic and miracles in the 21st century Tuesday evening titled "The Search for Chimera" in Richardson Auditorium as part of the University's Public Lecture Series.
The lecture series, a consortium of five public lecture funds established by University alumni, sponsors free lectures for the campus community throughout the year. Randi's lecture was sponsored by the Spencer Trask Lecture Fund, established in 1891 by Spencer Trask, Class of 1866.
"The Amazing" Randi burst onto the nation's stage in 1972 when he helped "The Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson expose Uri Geller's false claims to have paranormal abilities. Since then, Randi has garnered numerous honors for unraveling magical puzzles, such as an asteroid named after him and a MacArthur Foundation Fellow-ship in 1986.
Randi spent part of his talk chastising the scientific community's attempts to expose false claims of magic.
"I'm a patient man," Randi commented. However, he went on to say that the statistical and overly lab-oriented focus of modern science when researching miracles stretches his good humor.
Randi allegedly has a history of friction with the academic community. During the lecture, Randi criticized scholars who earn Ph.D.'s as being incapable of saying two important phrases: "I was wrong" and "I don't know."
When asked after the lecture about his last visit to the University over a decade ago, Randi said, "Frankly, the visit was not [satisfactory]" and that he would rather not talk about it.
Despite the potential for ruffled feathers in the academic audience, Randi kept the auditorium pealing with laughter by punctuating his lecture with magic tricks.
"I do these little stunts to prove points," Randi justified. Among one of his tricks, Randi allowed two audience members to tie his hands and legs together with rope and then "escaped" the Houdini setup.
In response to requests for photographs after the lecture, the magician quipped, "Well, I don't show up on film."
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