Robert M. Brier

Robert M. Brier was a research fellow at the Institute for Parapsychology in Durham, North Carolina, in the late 1960s, taught philosophy at C.W. Post College of Long Island University for three decades, and later joined the faculty of the Webb Institute as an Egyptologist.¹

Education

Brier received an A.B. from Hunter College in 1964 and studied psychology and phenomenology at the graduate school of the New School for Social Research from 1964 to 1966.¹ A Ph.D. dated 1970 is recorded for him, with the institution printed as "University of North Caroline."¹

Parapsychology research, 1966 to 1970

Brier was a research fellow at the Institute for Parapsychology, formerly the Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory, in Durham from 1966 to 1970.¹ The 1975 Uphoff survey gives the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man, Durham, the name Institute for Parapsychology.² A 1975 bibliography of parapsychology lists Joseph B. Rhine's Parapsychology Today (New York: Citadel Press, 1968) as co-written with Robert Brier.³

With S. R. Feather, Brier published "The possible effect of the checker in precognition tests" in the Journal of Parapsychology in 1968.⁴ The March 1971 issue of the Journal of Parapsychology carries an article on repetitions of the French precognition experiments with mice, in which the authors state that Dr. Robert Brier made important contributions at several points.⁵

Journal of Parapsychology publications, 1966 to 1975

The author, title and subject indexes of the Journal of Parapsychology print the author as Bob Brier in 1966, 1967 and 1975 and as Robert M. Brier or Robert Brier from 1968 to 1974.

• 1966, volume 30: a review of Michael M. Hare, Microcosm and Macrocosm, by Bob Brier, p. 214.⁶
• 1967, volume 31: "A Correspondence ESP Experiment with High-I.Q. Subjects" by Bob Brier, p. 143; a correspondence exchange between Jan Stevenson and Bob Brier, p. 149; a review of Winning at Casino Gaming by the Staff of Rouge et Noir by Bob Brier, p. 249; and an abstract "PK on a bio-electric system," p. 335.⁷
• 1968, volume 32: a review of Charles McCreery, Science, Philosophy and ESP, by Robert M. Brier, p. 139, and "The Possible Effect of the Checker in Precognition" by Sara R. Feather and Robert Brier, pp. 167-175 (the index spells the title "...Precognition Tests"; the contents page omits "Tests").⁸
• 1969, volume 33: "A Mass School Test of Precognition" by Robert M. Brier, pp. 125-135; the abstract "PK on a bio-electrical system," pp. 159-160; and abstracts with Walter V. Tyminski, "A preliminary attempt at assured identification," p. 160, and "Majority vote technique and psi application," p. 322.⁹
• 1970, volume 34: "Psi Application: Part I. A Preliminary Attempt" and "Psi Application: Part II. The Majority-Vote Technique, Analyses and Observations," both by Robert M. Brier and Walter V. Tyminski (number 1, March 1970), and "The Stacking Effect and Methods of Correcting for It" by Robert H. Thouless and Robert M. Brier (number 2, June 1970), p. 124.¹⁰
• 1975, volume 39: "Precognition and the Philosophy of Science" by Bob Brier, pp. 74-76, listed in the contents with Antony Flew's name beside it.¹¹

The 1969 index prints "Winter," "Spring" and "Summer Review Meeting of the Institute for Parapsychology" (pp. 70, 158, 320).⁹

C.W. Post College and Long Island University

A 1975 directory lists "Dr. Robert M. Brier" in the philosophy department of C.W. Post College (Long Island University).¹² His career there is recorded as an assistant professorship from 1971 to 1974, an associate professorship from 1974 to 1980, a professorship from 1980 to 2003, and the chairmanship of the philosophy department from 1980 to 1996. From 2003 he is recorded as a senior research fellow there.¹

New School listing

The 1975 directory also lists Brier under the New School for Social Research, at 66 West 12th Street, together with Martin Ebon and Gilbert Roller and others.¹² The school's Bulletin for spring 1975 lists the course "Experimental Parapsychology," taught by Bob Brier on Wednesdays from February 5 and covering telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition and "a history of the development of parapsychology from magic to science," and a course on Egyptian culture; its faculty biography reads "Bob Brier, Ph.D., University of North Carolina; Research Fellow, Institute for Parapsychology. Associate Professor of Philosophy, C. W. Post College. Member, Parapsychological Association. Editor, with J. B. Rhine, Parapsychology Today; author, Precognition and the Philosophy of Science."¹³

Egyptology and publications

From 2012 Brier is recorded as an adjunct assistant professor of Egyptology at the Webb Institute.¹ His publications include Egyptomania: Our Three Thousand Year Obsession with the Land of the Pharaohs (New York: Macmillan, 2013), Secret of the Great Pyramid, with Jean-Pierre Houdin (Smithsonian, 2008), and "Return to the Great Pyramid," Archaeology (July-August 2009). His listed honors include a Fulbright fellowship to Turkey (1985), a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship in Islamic science at Columbia University (1986), and the David Newton Award for Excellence in Teaching (1988).¹