Antoine Priore
Encyclopedia
Antoine Prioré (April 10, 1912–May 9, 1983) was born in Trieste
, Italy
. Prioré received training in electrical engineering
and was a radar
technician for the Italian Navy
. (Perisse, 1984) He was a prisoner of the German Nazi
occupation of Bordeaux
, France, until he was rescued by the French resistance
in 1944. (Bird, 1984)
It is said by Internet sources that in 1944 Priore noticed some oranges that had been left next to some electrical equipment. These oranges remained in a fresh state while others not near the electrical equipment became rotten and putrid.
Priore worked for 25 years (between 1950 and 1975) in Bordeaux
, and built a series of electromagnetic
devices producing a strong magnetic field of 600 gauss
(60 mT
) or more for the purpose of treating cancer and disease. Electromagnetic therapy
is characterised as pseudoscientific
by most modern medical researchers.
His last device was funded by the French government with the help of one-time Prime Minister of France Jacques Chaban-Delmas
. Prioré also built a large device (M-600) for the purpose of treating people with cancer
. (Graille, 1984) Prioré reported to have treated a number of animals with cancer with his device, but it broke down before it could be applied to human patients. (Graille, 1984) Prioré claimed to have cured a number of terminal cancer patients with his earlier devices. (Bird, 1984) Prioré's research attracted the attention of the French media in 1965 who dubbed it "L'affaire Priore".
Prioré was accused of manipulating his scientific data by the French Academy of Sciences
. (Rorvik, 1975) French journalists also accused Prioré of not understanding his own technique for treating cancer and disease. (Ibid.) Prioré never exposed his exact method, believing others would only steal it for themselves. (Bird, 1984) Members of the French Academy of Sciences and media alike seriously questioned the legitimacy of Prioré's research, with many accusing him of fraud. (Graille, 1984) The U.S. Office of Naval Research evaluated Prioré's patents. The patents seemed deliberately made unclear, leaving little information to ascertain the mechanical and electromagnetic workings of Prioré's devices. (Bateman, 1978)
In 1965, one event exposed possible foul play in Prioré's experimental research involving "English mice." Mice with experimental cancers sent to Prioré from the Chester Beatty Institute in England lead to controversy over his research. After Prioré exposed the mice to radiation from his devices, they were sent back to the Institute. Scientists from the Institute claimed the mice returned to them were not genuine because they rejected new cancer grafts. (Rorvik, 1975) One scientist with the Institute, Pierette Chateaurenaud-Duprat, retorted the claim stating the mice showed signs of immunity to the cancers they were originally grafted with. (Graille, 1984) Prioré's colleagues supported his research until his death in 1983. Immunologist Raymond Pautrizel and Robert Courier, former secretary of the French Academy of Sciences
, published a series of notes on Prioré's research in the proceedings of the French Academy. (Graille, 1984) Pautrizel classified Prioré's methodology as immunological in nature, since animals inoculated with deadly doses of parasites were reportedly healed with Prioré radiation. (Rorvik, 1975) Priore's methodology was also characterized by boosting subjects' immune systems, allowing them to heal themselves of incurable diseases. (Bird, 1984)
Antoine Prioré died on May 9, 1983 of a stroke. (Perisse, 1984) Jean-Michel Graille, a French journalist, met with Raymond Pautrizel and wrote a book on the Priore affair, Dossier Priore. The mystery of "L'affaire Priore" remains unsolved.
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Prioré received training in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and was a radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
technician for the Italian Navy
Italian Navy
Italian Navy may refer to:* Pre-unitarian navies of the Italian states* Regia Marina, the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Italy * Italian Navy , the navy of the Italian Republic...
. (Perisse, 1984) He was a prisoner of the German Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
occupation of Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, France, until he was rescued by the French resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
in 1944. (Bird, 1984)
It is said by Internet sources that in 1944 Priore noticed some oranges that had been left next to some electrical equipment. These oranges remained in a fresh state while others not near the electrical equipment became rotten and putrid.
Priore worked for 25 years (between 1950 and 1975) in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, and built a series of electromagnetic
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
devices producing a strong magnetic field of 600 gauss
Gauss (unit)
The gauss, abbreviated as G, is the cgs unit of measurement of a magnetic field B , named after the German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. One gauss is defined as one maxwell per square centimeter; it equals 1 tesla...
(60 mT
Tesla (unit)
The tesla is the SI derived unit of magnetic field B . One tesla is equal to one weber per square meter, and it was defined in 1960 in honour of the inventor, physicist, and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla...
) or more for the purpose of treating cancer and disease. Electromagnetic therapy
Electromagnetic therapy
Electromagnetic therapy, is a form of alternative medicine which claims to treat disease by applying electromagnetic radiation or pulsed electromagnetic fields to the body....
is characterised as pseudoscientific
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
by most modern medical researchers.
His last device was funded by the French government with the help of one-time Prime Minister of France Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
. Prioré also built a large device (M-600) for the purpose of treating people with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. (Graille, 1984) Prioré reported to have treated a number of animals with cancer with his device, but it broke down before it could be applied to human patients. (Graille, 1984) Prioré claimed to have cured a number of terminal cancer patients with his earlier devices. (Bird, 1984) Prioré's research attracted the attention of the French media in 1965 who dubbed it "L'affaire Priore".
Prioré was accused of manipulating his scientific data by the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
. (Rorvik, 1975) French journalists also accused Prioré of not understanding his own technique for treating cancer and disease. (Ibid.) Prioré never exposed his exact method, believing others would only steal it for themselves. (Bird, 1984) Members of the French Academy of Sciences and media alike seriously questioned the legitimacy of Prioré's research, with many accusing him of fraud. (Graille, 1984) The U.S. Office of Naval Research evaluated Prioré's patents. The patents seemed deliberately made unclear, leaving little information to ascertain the mechanical and electromagnetic workings of Prioré's devices. (Bateman, 1978)
In 1965, one event exposed possible foul play in Prioré's experimental research involving "English mice." Mice with experimental cancers sent to Prioré from the Chester Beatty Institute in England lead to controversy over his research. After Prioré exposed the mice to radiation from his devices, they were sent back to the Institute. Scientists from the Institute claimed the mice returned to them were not genuine because they rejected new cancer grafts. (Rorvik, 1975) One scientist with the Institute, Pierette Chateaurenaud-Duprat, retorted the claim stating the mice showed signs of immunity to the cancers they were originally grafted with. (Graille, 1984) Prioré's colleagues supported his research until his death in 1983. Immunologist Raymond Pautrizel and Robert Courier, former secretary of the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
, published a series of notes on Prioré's research in the proceedings of the French Academy. (Graille, 1984) Pautrizel classified Prioré's methodology as immunological in nature, since animals inoculated with deadly doses of parasites were reportedly healed with Prioré radiation. (Rorvik, 1975) Priore's methodology was also characterized by boosting subjects' immune systems, allowing them to heal themselves of incurable diseases. (Bird, 1984)
Antoine Prioré died on May 9, 1983 of a stroke. (Perisse, 1984) Jean-Michel Graille, a French journalist, met with Raymond Pautrizel and wrote a book on the Priore affair, Dossier Priore. The mystery of "L'affaire Priore" remains unsolved.
See also
- BioelectromagneticsBioelectromagneticsBioelectromagnetics is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities. Common areas of investigation include animal navigation utilising the geomagnetic field, potential effects of man-made sources of electromagnetic fields like mobile phones and developing...
- PseudosciencePseudosciencePseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
- ProtoscienceProtoscienceIn the philosophy of science, a protoscience is an area of scientific endeavor that is in the process of becoming established. Protoscience is distinguished from pseudoscience by its standard practices of good science, such as a willingness to be disproven by new evidence, or to be replaced by a...
- The Body ElectricThe Body ElectricThe Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life is a book by Robert O. Becker and Gary Selden in which Becker, an orthopedic surgeon at the time working for the Veterans Administration, describes his research into "our bioelectric selves"....
- Electromagnetic therapyElectromagnetic therapyElectromagnetic therapy, is a form of alternative medicine which claims to treat disease by applying electromagnetic radiation or pulsed electromagnetic fields to the body....