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Revision as of 13:58, 27 January 2006
Royal Raymond Rife (May 16, 1888 - August 11, 1971) is an important figure in alternative medicine. He is known in the alternative medicine community for his claim of inventing in 1933 the "Universal Microscope", an advanced optical microscope with x31,000 magnification (comparable to that of early electron microscopes).
Research with the Universal Microscope
Rife claimed to have used used his Universal Microscope to examine pleomorphic microbes in various media. According to Rife, an advantage of his optical microscope over other optical microscopes of the day was that living tissues and organisms could be examined as his microscope, through the use of polarized light and prisms, was able to focus clearly on live tissues and living organisms.
The Beam Ray
Rife also commissioned the invention of a device called the "Beam Ray", said to operate on the principle of resonance, which he allegedly used in 1934 at a University of Southern California clinic in La Jolla, California to cure 16 patients of their cancer. Rife claimed he could find the resonant frequency of a particular disease-causing organism, then use the "oscillatory energy" to destroy the organism, much as a pane of glass can be broken by sound at the pane's resonant frequency.
Destruction of Research
Rife's work was destroyed by Dr. Morris Fishbein, then editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The government raided Rife's labs, destroyed his microscopes, seized his equipment and notes, and forced him to move on.
Since most information on Rife's work on the Universal Microscope and the Beam Ray is no longer available, independent verification and/or replication of his theories, research and results now may be all but impossible.
However, the claims for the Universal Microscope's x31,000 magnification are not supported by physics. Optical microscopes are limited by the wavelength of light, blurring of the image by diffraction limiting the optical resolution to typically x1,500.
Re-examination of Research
Rife's work was revived by interested scientists and laypeople in the 1980s. An interest in Rife himself was revived by author Barry Lynes, who wrote a book about Rife entitled The Cancer Cure That Worked.
Today Rife's research is being re-visited by such groups as the Bioelectromagnetics Society.
But history seems to be repeating itself as those who are looking into Rife's work today are accused of ignoring the scientific method, and their work is described as pseudo-science. Current theoretical and commercial offerings, such as Rife plasma lamp devices, are seen as quackery and claimed to be unsupported by peer-reviewed research by Quackwatch and other skeptics of alternative medicine who seem to take the same view of Rife and his work as Fishbein in the first half of the 20th century.
See also
External links
- James Bare is an inventor who has designed a modern version of the Rife "Beam Ray" device.
- Rife.org - reviews the original documents concerning Rife
- The European Rife Information Forum is run by Peter Walker, a Rife experimenter, and contains a wealth of links and information concerning modern Rife research.
- The Bioelectromagnetics Society is an association of scientists and doctors conducting experiments that use electromagnetism to heal.
- Aubrey Scoon is an electrical engineer with an interest in Rife technologies who maintains a web site regarding his own research into Rife technologies.