Forwald, Haakon Gabriel (1897-1978)

Scandinavian electrical engineer, inventor, and parapsychologist. Born August 21, 1897, at Mandal, Norway, Forwald was educated at the Technical College of Oslo. From 1918 to 1923 he was a pilot with the Norwegian Naval Air Force. In 1925 he received his B.A. from the Technische Hochschule, Danzig, and later studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, and the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. He worked as a consulting engineer and held many patents for his engineering and electrical work.

In 1950 he began experimenting in the field of parapsychology, particularly psychokinesis. In 1957 he was a research fellow at Duke University and in 1959 a research fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. He was given the William McDougall Award for Distinguished Work in Parapsychology for his paper (with J. G. Pratt ) on "Confirmation of the PK Placement Effect" (1958).

Forwald became a charter member of the Parapsychological Association and wrote a number of articles on parapsychology. In 1969 he contributed Mind, Matter and Gravitation: A Theoretical & Experimental Study to the Parapsychology Foundation monograph series. In this paper he discusses his experiments in psychokinesis and states that they "led to the recognition of mathematical structures which are the same in PK-forces as those observed in physics. The findings suggest that PK-forces are of a gravitational kind, and that they originate from a mental influence on atomic nuclei in the material which is used in the moveable bodies in the experiments." He died September 16, 1978, at Ludvika, Sweden.

Sources:

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Forwald, Haakon G. "An Approach to Instrumental Investigation of Psychokinesis." Journal of Parapsychology (1954).

——. "Experiments with Alternating PK Placement and Control Tests." Journal of Parapsychology (1955).

——. "A Further Study of the PK Placement Effect." Journal of Parapsychology 16 (1952).

——. Mind, Matter and Gravitation. New York: Parapsychology Foundation, 1970.

——. "A Study of Psychokinesis in its Relation to Physical Conditions." Journal of Parapsychology 19 (1955).

Forwald, Haakon G., and Joseph G. Pratt. "Confirmation of the PK Placement Effect." Journal of Parapsychology 22 (March 1958).

Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. New York: Helix Press, 1964.