Karlis Osis, PhD., was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1917, and is one of the few psychologists to have obtained a Ph.D. with a thesis dealing with extrasensory perception (University of Munich, 1950).
As research associate of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University from 1951 to 1957, Osis was a colleague of Dr. J. B. Rhine. In his research there, Osis pioneered experiments on ESP in animals and worked with humans to study ESP over the dimensions of space and time. Then, widening the scope of his activities, he served as director of research at the Parapsychology Foundation in New York City, where he conducted novel experiments with mediums and a large-scale survey of deathbed observations by physicians and nurses (1957-62). Cases of apparitions seen by several persons, and cases of poltergeist phenomena were also studied.
From 1962 to 1975, Osis was director of research at the American Society for Psychical Research in New York. He is presently a Chester F. Carlson Research Fellow of the ASPR. During this time, Osis conducted a number of pioneering efforts in parapsychology.
He conducted his second survey on deathbed observations by physicians and nurses to collect data suggestive of life after death. In an interview with creative artists, Osis found altered states of consciousness to be related to states conducive to ESP. Altered states of consciousness induced by meditation were studied in a four-year project. Osis also explored the relationship between mediumship and ESP by laboratory work with small, carefully selected groups of experienced meditators. Basic dimensions of the meditation experience were worked out by means of factor analysis.
Osis is well known for his long-distance ESP experiments—up to ten thousand miles—and for his research on the ESP channel—that is, an unknown energy which transmits ESP.
In the 1970s, Osis conducted extensive laboratory experiments on out-of-body experiences. These involved perceptual> physiological (EEG), and physical measurements. Together with Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson, he conducted a large-scale survey of the experiences of dying patients in India, which provided data for cross-cultural comparison between India and the United States. They also studied psychic phenomena in selected Yogis, particularly Sri Sathya Sai Baba, in southern India.
Osis is past president of the Parapsychological Association and a member of the American Psychological Association, Eastern Psychological Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society for Scientific Study of Religion, and various organizations concerned with the study of psychic phenomena and human personality. Osis passed away on December 26, 1997.
