Ian Stevenson

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Ian Stevenson (born October 31, 1918 in Montreal , Canada , † February 8, 2007 in Charlottesville , Virginia , USA ) was a Canadian psychiatrist and founder of reincarnation research .

Life

Stevenson was born in Montreal, the son of a Scottish lawyer. He studied medicine at St Andrews University in Scotland and later at McGill University in Montreal (1940 until his doctorate in 1943). From 1944 to 1945 he was an assistant at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. In 1945 he went to the United States (naturalized in 1949) and was an internist at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix until 1946, from 1946 to 1947 a fellow for internal medicine at the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation in New Orleans , then (until 1949) at Cornell University Medical College ( Ithaca , New York ). 1949-52 he was Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at Louisiana State University in New Orleans and then Associate Professor of Psychiatry there.

Stevenson's preoccupation with reincarnation research began around 1953 and since 1964 he has devoted himself primarily to it. He was able to do this with the financial support of Chester Carlson (the inventor of the Xerox machines), who became aware of him through an essay published in 1960 (The Evidence for Survival from Claimed Memories of Former Incarnations) , with which he was honored in a publication competition won by William James .

Since 1957 Stevenson was at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville , first as chief psychiatrist of the university clinic, 1967-2001 as professor of psychiatry (Carlson chair) and head of the Division of Personality Studies (DOPS) of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine. Since his retirement he worked there as a research professor for psychiatry.

After a long illness, he died on February 8, 2007.

Researches

For the parapsychological hypothesis that reincarnation is a real natural phenomenon, Stevenson's research results are currently the best arguments (status: 2007). However, he himself never spoke of evidence in this context, only of cases that suggest reincarnation.

However, there are also doubts about Stevenson's research methods. In the context of his observations on children, he is accused of (unconscious) suggestion or simply misinterpretation with regard to the children's statements. He countered these doubts with his major work Reincarnation and Biology , in which he bases his thesis on documented physical characteristics in order to rule out suggestion or interpretation errors.

Publications

English language publications

  • Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation . 1966.
  • Cases of the Reincarnation Type .
  • Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy . 1984, ISBN 0-8139-0994-5 (covers two cases of xenoglossia in detail )
  • Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects . (2 volumes). 1997 (Stevenson's major scientific work)
  • Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect . 1997, ISBN 0275-95188-X (A short form of the two-volume scientific work for readers without medical training)
  • Children Who Remember Previous Lives. A Quest of Reincarnation . 2001, ISBN 0-8139-1140-0 (a popular introduction to reincarnation research)
  • European Cases of the Reincarnation Type . 2003, ISBN 0-7864-1458-8 ; German edition: Reincarnation in Europe. Testimonials. 2005, ISBN 3-89427-300-3

German-language publications

  • 1976 Reincarnation: Man in the course of death and rebirth. 20 convincing and scientifically proven cases . With a foreword by CJ Ducasse . Aurum Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau. ISBN 3-591-08019-5 .
  • 1999 proof of reincarnation . Aquamarin Verlag, ISBN 978-3894271176 .
  • 2003 Reincarnation: Man in the course of death and rebirth. 20 convincing and scientifically proven cases . Aurum published by Kamphausen Verlag, ISBN 978-3899010190 .
  • 2005 reincarnation in Europe. Testimonials . Aquamarin Verlag, ISBN 978-3894273002 .

Books about Ian Stevenson

  • Carol Bowman: Children's Past Lives. How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child , 1997. Dt. Output: Mom, I've grown up before! Children remember previous lives , Amra Verlag, Hanau 2012.
  • Tom Shroder: Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence for Past Lives . 1999.
  • Jim B. Tucker: Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives . 2005
  • Dieter Hassler: ... in the past, I used to grow up. And ... circumstantial evidence of afterlife and rebirth; Volume 1: Spontaneous memories of small children of their “previous life” , Shaker Media, Aachen, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86858-646-6 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stevenson, Ian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian-American psychiatrist, parapsychologist and founder of reincarnation research
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Montreal , Canada
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 2007
Place of death Charlottesville , Virginia, USA