Editing Royal Raymond Rife

{{Wikipedia fork
| article_name = Royal Rife
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{{Short description|American inventor (1888–1971)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Royal Raymond Rife
| image              = [[File:Royal Raymond Rife in his Lab - November 1929.jpg|225px|alt=Royal Raymond Rife in his Lab]] 
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1888|05|16}}
| birth_place        = [[Elkhorn, Nebraska]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1971|08|05|1888|05|16}}
| death_place        = [[El Cajon, California]] U.S.
| nationality        = American
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = [[Inventor (patent)|Inventor]]
| known_for          = Microscopes and Rife’s device
}}
{{Alternative medicine sidebar}}

'''Royal Raymond Rife''' (May 16, 1888 – August 5, 1971)<!--Using this primary source for an uncontroversial claim per Wikipedia:Fringe theories#Parity of sources --><ref name="Find a Grave Memorial 1971">{{cite web | title=Dr Royal Raymond Rife (1888-1971) | website=Find a Grave Memorial | date=August 5, 1971 | url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74163580/royal-raymond-rife | access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> was an American inventor and early exponent of high-magnification [[Time-lapse microscopy|time-lapse cine-micrography]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=San Diego Union|date=November 3, 1929|title=Local Man Bares Wonders of Germ Life: Making Moving Pictures of Microbe Drama}}</ref><ref name="PopSci_June1931">{{cite journal|journal=Popular Science|author=H. H. Dunn|title=Movie New Eye of Microscope in War on Germs|date=June 1931|pages=27, 141|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CcDAAAAMBAJ&q=Germs|volume=118|issue=6|issn=0161-7370}}</ref>

Rife is known for his microscopes, which he claimed could observe live microorganisms with a magnification considered impossible for his time, and for an "oscillating beam ray" invention, which he thought could treat various ailments by "devitalizing disease organisms" using radio waves. Although he came to collaborate with scientists, doctors and inventors of the epoch, and his findings were published in newspapers and scientific journals like the [[Smithsonian Institution]] annual report of 1944, they were later rejected by the [[American Medical Association]] (AMA), the [[American Cancer Society]] (ACS) and [[mainstream science]].

Rife's supporters continue to claim that impulses of electromagnetic frequencies can disable cancerous cells and other microorganisms responsible for diseases. Most of these claims have no scientific research to back them up, and Rife machines are not approved for treatment by any health regulator. Multiple promoters have been convicted of health fraud and sent to prison.

== Life and work ==
[[File:RoyRife.jpg|thumb|left|Royal Raymond Rife (age 43) in ''Popular Science Magazine'' (June 1931)]]

Little reliable published information exists describing Rife's life and work. In the 1930s, he made several [[Optical microscope#Compound microscope|optical compound microscope]]s and, using a movie camera, took [[time-lapse microscopy]] movies of microbes.<ref name="PopSci_June1931"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/11/22/archives/bacilli-revealed-by-new-microscope-dr-rifes-apparatus-magnifying.html?sq=royal+rife&scp=2&st=p |title=Bacilli Revealed by New Microscope; Dr. Rife's Apparatus, Magnifying 17,000 Times, Shows Germs Never Before Seen. |newspaper = The New York Times |date = 1931-11-22 | page = 19 }}</ref><ref name=Smithsonian>{{cite book |title=Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution |date=1944 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |page=207ff |url=https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/annualreportofbo1944smit |language=en}}</ref> He also built microscopes that included [[polarizer]]s.<ref name=CaWest>{{cite journal | last1 = Kendall | first1 = Arthur Isaac | last2 = Rife | first2 = Royal | title = Observations On Bacillus Typhosus In Its Filterable State: A Preliminary Communication | journal = California and Western Medicine | volume = XXXV | issue = 6 | pages = 409–11| date = December 1931| pmc=1658030 | pmid=18741967}}</ref>  Rife claimed magnifications of 17,000× or more for some of these microscopes.<ref name=Smithsonian/>

A report published by the Smithsonian Institution described one of these microscopes as equipped for "transmitted and monochromatic beam [[Dark-field microscopy|dark-field]], [[Polarized light microscopy|polarized]], and slit-ultra illumination, including also a special device for [[crystallography]]". It added that several doctors had attended a demonstration of another of Rife's microscopes and had been impressed by its clarity and high magnification.<ref name=Smithsonian/>

A distinctive feature of the microscopes, according to Rife and to other scientists who examined them, was a false-colour effect by which, when a microbe was illuminated by a particular wavelength of polarised [[monochromatic light]], different for each type of microbe, the microbe and only the microbe would emit a distinctive colour of light (turquoise for typhoid bacteria, ruby red for ''Mycobacterium leprae'', etc.), thus taking the place of [[staining]] and allowing otherwise difficult organisms to be plainly seen.<ref name=Smithsonian/><ref name=CaWest/>

Some of the observations Rife claimed to have made with his microscopes are, however, contradicted by modern findings. For instance, he reported that under certain conditions [[typhoid]] bacteria [[Pleomorphism (microbiology)|changed]] into a much smaller form,<ref name=Smithsonian/><ref name=CaWest/> and claimed that most cancerous tumours contained a microbe that had no less than five forms, one of which was indistinguishable from [[E. coli]] while another resembled a [[fungus]].<ref name=Smithsonian/>

Rife also reported that a 'beam ray' device of his invention could destroy microbial pathogens.<ref name="PopSci_June1931"/><ref name=NewsPapers>{{cite news |last =Jones |first =Newell |title =Dread Disease Germs Destroyed By Rays, Claim Of S.D. Scientist: Cancer Blow Seen After 18-year Toil by Rife |page=1 |publisher=San Diego Evening Tribune |date=1938-05-06 }}</ref> Rife claimed to have documented a "Mortal Oscillatory Rate" for various pathogenic organisms, and to be able to destroy the organisms by vibrating them using radio waves of this particular frequency. According to the ''San Diego Evening Tribune'' in 1938, Rife stopped short of claiming that he could cure cancer, but did argue that he could "devitalize disease organisms" in living tissue, "with certain exceptions".<ref name=NewsPapers/> In a 1931 profile, Rife warned against "medical fakers" who claim to cure disease using "electrical 'vibrations{{' "}}, stating that his work did not uphold such claims.<ref name="PopSci_June1931"/>

[[File:Oryg rife.jpg|thumb|Rife machine (1922)]]

An obituary in the ''[[Daily Californian]]'' described his death at the age of 83 on August 5, 1971, stating that he died penniless and embittered by the failure of his devices to garner scientific acceptance.<ref name="daily-californian"/> Rife blamed the scientific rejection of his claims on a [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy]] involving the [[American Medical Association]] (AMA), the Department of Public Health, and other elements of "organized medicine", which had "brainwashed and intimidated" his colleagues.<ref name="daily-californian">{{cite news |first=Del |last=Hood| title = Scientific Genius Dies: Saw Work Discredited | work = [[Daily Californian]] | date = 1971-08-11 |url=https://rifevideos.com/scientific_genius_dies_saw_work_discredited.html }}</ref>

== Revival of the device, and health fraud ==
Interest in Rife's claims was revived in some [[alternative medicine|alternative medical]] circles by the 1987 book by Barry Lynes, ''The Cancer Cure That Worked'', which claimed that Rife had succeeded in curing cancer, but that his work was suppressed by a powerful conspiracy headed by the [[American Medical Association]].<ref name="acs">{{cite journal |title=Questionable methods of cancer management: electronic devices |journal=CA Cancer J Clin |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=115–27 |year=1994 |pmid=8124604 |doi=10.3322/canjclin.44.2.115|s2cid=31481316 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 
The [[American Cancer Society]] (ACS) describes Lynes' claims as implausible, noting that the book was written "in a style typical of conspiratorial theorists", and that Lynes "... cites names, dates, events and places, giving the appearance of authenticity to a mixture of historical documents and speculations selectively spun into a web far too complex to permit verification by any thing short of an army of investigators with unlimited resources."<ref name="acs"/> 

After this book's publication, a variety of devices bearing Rife's name were marketed as cures for diverse diseases such as cancer and [[AIDS]].  Some used radio waves as in the original experiments, some used other methods such as a pulsed electric current or pulsed electromagnetic fields at the correct frequencies, or what the manufacturers believed to be the correct frequencies.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Rife Machine Report, Chapter 14 |url=https://rifevideos.com/chapter_14_life_labs_1950s_pad_instrument_without_ray_tube.html |website=rifevideos.com |access-date=13 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Rife Machine Report, Chapter 24 |url=https://rifevideos.com/chapter_24_dr_rifes_rf_method_or_the_emf_method.html |website=rifevideos.com |access-date=13 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ringas |first1=Jason |title=Rife and R.I.F.E. machines defined |url=https://www.rife.de/rife-and-r.i.f.e.-machines-defined.html |website=Rife Research, Europe |access-date=13 July 2024}}</ref>  An analysis by ''[[Electronics Australia]]'' found that one typical 'Rife device' cost AU$105 for a rudimentary circuit that simply produced a tiny pulsed electrical current (at a single fixed frequency of about 40kHz).  It consisted of a [[PP3 battery|nine-volt battery]], wiring, a switch, a standard [[555 timer IC|555 timer chip]] and two short lengths of copper tubing meant to act as handheld electrodes, delivering a current which the author estimated at 1 milliamp at most.  Its design was, in fact, almost identical to the "zapper" device promoted by [[Hulda Clark]], rather than having much in common with Rife's original devices.  He described this as "the tip of an enormous iceberg", with a wide range of more elaborate devices also on sale from different suppliers, varying widely in design and ranging in price from AU$1,500 to AU$34,000.<ref name="EA">{{cite news | title = Forum | first = Jim | last = Rowe | newspaper=[[Electronics Australia]] |date=January 1998 |url=https://archive.org/details/EA1998/EA%201998-01%20January/page/n23/mode/2up }}</ref>  

Such 'Rife devices' have figured prominently in several cases of [[health fraud]] in the U.S., typically centered around the uselessness of the devices and the grandiose claims with which they are marketed. In a 1996 case, the marketers of a 'Rife device' claiming to cure numerous diseases including cancer and AIDS were convicted of felony health fraud.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1370/is_n7_v30/ai_18656599/ |title = Investigators' Reports | work = [[FDA Consumer]] | publisher = [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] | date = September 1996 | access-date = 2009-08-07 | first=Dixie | last=Farley|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910194617/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18656599.html|archive-date=September 10, 2016}}</ref> The sentencing judge described them as "target[ing] the most vulnerable people, including those suffering from terminal disease" and providing false hope.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/796_irs.html  |title = Investigators' Reports | work =  [[FDA Consumer]] | publisher = [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] | date = September 1996 | access-date = 2009-01-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071214170405/https://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/796_irs.html |archive-date = 2007-12-14}}</ref> In some cases cancer patients who ceased chemotherapy and instead used these devices have died.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/News/rife.html|author=Stephen Barrett|author-link=Stephen Barrett|title=Rife Machine Operator Sued|access-date=2007-02-12|publisher=[[Quackwatch]]}}</ref> A Washington State couple Donald and Sharon Brandt, who operated a clandestine health-care clinic from their home in [[Mount Vernon]]<ref name="stimes">{{cite news | url = https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20071221/indictment21m/pair-indicted-on-fraud-charges-in-medical-device-probe | title = Pair indicted on fraud charges in medical-device probe | first = Christine | last = Willmsen | author2 = Michael J. Berens | newspaper = [[Seattle Times]] | date = 2007-12-21 | access-date = 2008-04-24}}</ref> based on Rife's inventions were convicted for a short imprisonment period.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mddionline.com/news/makers-unapproved-device-sentenced |title=Makers of Unapproved Device Sentenced |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}}</ref> Rife devices are currently classified as a subset of radionics devices, which are generally viewed as [[Quackery| pseudomedicine]] by mainstream experts.<ref name="acs"/> In Australia, the use of Rife machines has been blamed for the deaths of cancer patients who might have been cured with conventional therapy.<ref name="SMH">{{cite news | title = Cheating Death | first = Ben | last = Hills | newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=30 December 2000 |url=http://www.healthwatcher.net/quackerywatch/Cancer/Cancer-news/smh001230rife-aus.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630035906/http://www.healthwatcher.net/quackerywatch/Cancer/Cancer-news/smh001230rife-aus.html |archive-date=30 June 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>  In 2002 John Bryon Krueger, who operated the Royal Rife Research Society, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a murder and also received a concurrent 30-month sentence for illegally selling Rife devices. In 2009 a U.S. court convicted James Folsom of 26 felony counts for sale of the Rife devices sold as 'NatureTronics', 'AstroPulse', 'BioSolutions', 'Energy Wellness', and 'Global Wellness'.<ref name=DW>{{cite web|url=http://www.devicewatch.org/reports/rife/folsom.shtml|author=Stephen Barrett|author-link=Stephen Barrett|title=Rife Device Marketers Convicted|access-date=2009-08-07|publisher=[[Quackwatch]]}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
In 1994, the American Cancer Society's journal ''[[CA (journal)|CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians]]'' criticized Rife's methods and devices in an article titled "Questionable Methods of Cancer Management: Electronic Devices". The ACS reported that Rife machines were being sold in a "[[pyramid scheme|pyramid-like]], [[multilevel marketing]] scheme". A key component in the marketing of Rife devices has been the claim, initially put forward by Rife himself, that the devices were being suppressed by an establishment conspiracy against cancer "cures".<ref name="acs"/> Although 'Rife devices' are not registered by the U.S. [[Food and Drug Administration]] and have been linked to deaths among cancer sufferers, ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' reported that over 300 people attended the 2006 Rife International Health Conference in [[Seattle]], where dozens of unregistered devices were sold.<ref name="stimes"/>

[[Cancer Research UK]], the world's largest independent cancer research charity, has stated: {{quote|"There is no reliable evidence that the Rife machine works as a cure for cancer.... There is also no evidence that it doesn't cause harm.... Many websites promote the Rife machine as a cure for cancer. But no reputable scientific cancer organisations support any of these claims."<ref name=CancerUK_Rife>{{cite web | url=https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/rife-machine-and-cancer | author=Cancer Research UK | title=Rife machines | date=2018-11-12 | publisher=[[Cancer Research UK]]}}</ref>}}

A 2000 article in ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'' warned: {{quote|"Cancer sufferers have died after putting their faith in a device with electrical parts worth just $15" ({{Inflation|US|15|2000|fmt=eq}}), further reporting that Rife machines are "unanimously condemned as worthless by mainstream scientists and banned in at least two American States."<ref name="SMH" />}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080204225953/http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Electromagnetic_Therapy.asp Electromagnetic Therapy] from the [[American Cancer Society]]
* [http://www.ncahf.org/articles/o-r/rife.html Rife devices] from the [[National Council Against Health Fraud]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rife, Royal}}
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:Alternative cancer treatment advocates]]
[[Category:Health fraud people]]
[[Category:People from Douglas County, Nebraska]]
[[Category:American scientific instrument makers]]