James S. McDonnell
I don’t have information in the reference library specifically about James S. McDonnell as a biographical subject. However, the sources retrieved for this question do establish his role in parapsychology research funding.
James S. McDonnell and parapsychology funding
James S. McDonnell was the founder and financial backer of the Psychophysical Research Laboratories (PRL) in Princeton. The laboratory, which Charles Honorton directed, was created and funded by McDonnell. The PRL became the institutional home for Honorton’s flagship research program: the autoganzfeld, a computer-controlled implementation of the ganzfeld protocol, designed and built by Rick E. Berger beginning in 1981.
McDonnell Foundation support extended beyond PRL operations to specific research outputs — the autoganzfeld research and the Bem-Honorton collaboration were both conducted under McDonnell Foundation funding, alongside support from the John E. Fetzer Foundation.
For deeper context on the autoganzfeld research program and its funding, see the Charles Honorton profile and the page on the Bem-Honorton collaboration and mainstream replication.
References
More questions answered
- Pool the effect sizes across every ganzfeld study you hold and compare your number to the published Storm and Tressoldi meta-analyses—do they agree?
- Has the effect size for PK data increased in the last 50 years?
- Tell me about the clairvoyance work of the last 50 years
- What trends can you see in precognition research?
- What trends can you see in ESP research in the last 50 years?
- What are parapsychology's current arguments to justify that the phenomena are real and should be taken seriously?