Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California. Elizabeth Rauscher: An Oral History with Elizabeth Rauscher. Interviews conducted by Dennis Preisler in 2012. Special thanks to Cheryl Welsh, Lauren Lasselben, and Jean Maria Arrigo for coordinating this oral history donation. Copyright © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California. Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Elizabeth Rauscher and Cheryl Welsh, dated December 1, 2012. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Citation Recommendation: Elizabeth Rauscher, “An Oral History with Elizabeth Rauscher” conducted by Dennis Preisler in 2012, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2013. [Track 1] 1: Family's emphasis on education — Childhood thought processes and early intellectual development — High grades in college — Yearning for stimulating intellectual companions — Influence of older sister's first husband, who studied nucleonics — Paper on fusion reaction published when she was — College: hard work, great grades, few parties — Yearning for philosophical/intellectual conversations despite derision of father — Marriage, motherhood, divorce — Studying under John Rasmussen — Participated in Tuesday Night Club and a religion and science group — Women in physics and chemistry — Curiosity of children — Interest in art — Deciding how to dress as a woman in science — Interest in art, math, astrophysics and poetry as high school student — Inaccurate article about her work in Daily Cal and alumni magazine — Early interest in Eastern religions and Theosophy — Marriage to physics classmate, gave birth to world's cutest baby — Philosophy of raising children with respect for them as individuals — Camping with son. [Track 2A] 18: Childhood fascination with Lawrence Berkeley Labs — Father set example of non-prejudice — Trouble over Rauscher teaching courses to black students — Working with physicists Geoffrey Chew and Henry Stapp — Founding of Fundamental Fysiks group — Interest in psychic phenomena — Women in university math and science departments — Involvement with Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff at Stanford Research Institute — Other important psychic researchers with whom she worked — Stigma of studying psychic phenomena — Influence of hippies on physics — Attitudes towards black hole research during the 1960s — Other physics work outside the mainstream — Publishing under 'E.A. Rauscher' versus 'Elizabeth Rauscher' — Navy and CIA funding — Desire to understand consciousness and difficulty of that goal — Involvement in International Tesla Society — Science and discernment between truth and falsehoods — People's trouble accepting psychic phenomena — Rauscher's theory of eight dimensions — Remote viewing experiments. [Track 2B] 33: Theory of Descartes space — Dream that solved a theoretical problem — Sleep deprivation as altered state of consciousness — Early interest in electromagnetic fields — Meeting future husband Bill Bise, aka William van Bise — EMF and Mount Saint Helens eruption of 1980 — Experiments with EMFs, including a pain reduction device — People who threatened her and tried to stop her work — Pros and cons of nuclear energy — Importance of holistic approach to life. [Track 3A] 43: Work with Chris Dodge on Project Migraine re: earthquake prediction — Rauscher's experience at shopping mall during 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — EMF frequency upheaval preceding first Gulf War — Suspicions about the Challenger space shuttle accident — Ideas about using EMF to deactivate terrorists — Rauscher's opposition to working on weapons and for EMFs as crowd control — Story about Tesla and Mark Twain — Problems with stun guns — Rauscher's thoughts on business world and office status symbols — Rauscher and van Bise's EMF experiments — Experience with 'marijuana frequency' — On EMFs: 'We can cure them or kill them. I feel like we should cure them' — Microwave and cell phone frequencies — Pain relief devices — Alternative medical treatments — Importance of travel and exposure to other cultures. [Track 3B] 59: Rauscher's patent pending on positive effects of frequencies — Argument with Ross Adey over AC vs. DC current — Lack of holistic approach in conventional medicine — Ways of disseminating ideas — Loud music as weapon/annoyance — War, dehumanizing enemies and problems of veterans — Impossibility of ridding the world of conflict. [Track 4A] 68: Meeting Ira Einhorn at Esalen — Einhorn's early email list — Participating in physics conferences around the world — Thoughts on Theosophy — Searching for absolute truth despite impossibility of finding it — Happy memories of sitting in sun at Esalen — Physicists taking LSD at Esalen — Work on United Nations renewable energy project — Interaction with Soviets during UN project — Environmental problems, aquifer troubles — Oil and wars — Decision making processes of animals — Failure of education: the 'shut up and listen' system — 1960s environmentalism was taken over by drugs and personal desires — Brainwave fluctuations caused by sun — How computer technology connects people around the world — Usefulness of internet as reference tool — Difficulty of learning foreign languages. [Track 4B] 84: Systems of written languages — Tradition of rulers rewriting history dates back at least to Ancient Egyptians — Success in life despite bad childhood. Interviewee: Elizabeth Rauscher, Ph.D. Interviewer: Dennis Preisler Dates: April 27, 2012; May 1, 2012 Place: Apache Junction, Arizona Transcriber: Teresa Bergen Corrected and amended by Elizabeth Rauscher, November 14, 2012 and January 2013 Edited by Cheryl Welsh, November 28, 2012 and January 9, 20, 2013 Preisler: Today is April 27, 2012. I’m Dennis Preisler and I’m interviewing Dr. Elizabeth Rauscher at her home in Apache Junction, Arizona. And it’s, like I said, April 27. So we’re going to go ahead and start now. And we’ll start by talking a little bit about your background, your education. And as somebody who went to college and my father when I was growing up, you know, he was like, “College, college, college, it’s the most important thing. It will be with you for life.” And I know that when I went to college, my favorite thing about college was all the fun I had. (laughs) So my first question is, what really inspired you to go to college? Rauscher: Well, interestingly enough, my parents, well, on both sides of the family, particularly my dad’s side of the family were very well educated. [Father, Philip J. Webster, Ph.D. in agricultural economics, UCB] Everybody was supposed to get PhDs at big institutions. And he had uncles that were head of universities like Swarthmore University. And there were books all over the place and magazines. So if you ask a two year-old what’s going on here, they may not be able to explain it in words. But it was clear, my mom was reading all the time, and an expert on history. So one thing that was sort of an expectation, but I didn’t get along too well with my parents. And I was sort of, in their view, unruly. So I don't know what their expectation was. But I remember cutting ivy, which I would get paid for, you know, probably five cents an hour. And putting that money aside. And at about seven I said oh, well, I better start saving for college. So it was sort of an impulsive thing. It wasn’t really discussed. The idea was to be a learned person of the world. And friends of my mom [Claire Elsa Soderblom Webster, M.S., economics, UCB] and dad talked about their world travels. And I was very impressed. And one, when I was about seven, gave me a philosophy book, which was very interesting. Preisler: For a seven year-old. Rauscher: ["Man's] Right to [Knowledge"] was the title of the [blue-covered] book. And interesting, I didn’t talk to my son about it, either. But at seven he said, “Oh, I’m going to start saving for college.” And I never told him that it was seven that I chose to start saving for college. I thought that was an interesting imprint. Preisler: Uh huh, huh huh, yes. Rauscher: But anyway, my idea was, about four, I was sitting and watching the grass grow, as they say, when the idea as a child’s idle, that’s terrible.