Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich

Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich - Myron Sharaf [pdf]

Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) discovered a form of energy that he called "orgone" and asserted that this energy could be found within all living things and throughout the cosmos.

In 1939, just prior to the outbreak of World War II, he left Europe for the United States. In 1940, having scientifically proven the existence of orgone energy in the atmosphere, he built the first "orgone accumulator” -- a box-like structure designed to concentrate atmospheric orgone energy. He also conducted trials of the orgone accumulator on patients suffering from a variety of ailments. During the same year Reich wrote to Albert Einstein describing the theoretical basis of orgone energy and the orgone accumulator. He visited the professor in 1941 in Princeton, where they talked for many hours with Einstein agreeing to test the device. The outcome of Reich’s visit with the great man is recorded in the literature dealing with the history of science of Orgonomy.

In 1947 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to investigate Reich’s activities and claims. Some contend that this initial probe into Reich and his work was communist-instigated, undertaken to destroy Reich who had published such compelling, widely read arguments against communism. Others hold that his theories regarding orgone energy, and especially the importance of the function of the orgasm, led to the government’s involvement. 

In May 1956, Wilhelm Reich was arrested for violating a court injunction. Without Reich’s knowledge, and against his wishes, an associate intentionally transported orgone energy equipment across state lines. This act resulted in a charge of contempt of court. Reich refused to defend his scientific discoveries in court and was ultimately convicted only of having failed to obey the court’s injunction. He was sentenced to two years in prison. The FDA destroyed Reich’s orgone accumulators and burned, in four separate operations, books and literature. Wilhelm Reich died on November 3, 1957 in the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Paperback: 588 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 22, 1994)