Jacques Benveniste (March 12, 1935 - October 3, 2004) was a prominent French immunologist. He became infamous in 1988 when he claimed to have found valid scientific evidence for the pseudoscience known as homeopathy. In particular, he claimed that a homeopathic solution of antibodies could activate white blood cells, via a mechanism he called water memory.

After extensive debate amongst peer reviewers, his claims were published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, with an editorial disclaimer. The paper caused an immediate uproar in the media.

However, the initial claims did not stand up to repeat examination. Independent scientific teams around the globe failed to replicate Benveniste's results. Even more damningly, Benveniste's own team failed to replicate the results when their work was overseen by independent observers including Nature editor Dr. John Maddox and pseudo-science debunker James Randi.

Although the original article was never retracted, Benveniste's reputation was completely ruined. Nevertheless, he maintained his beliefs in the power of homeopathy, founding the DigiBio company in 1997 to further research related "phenomena".

Benveniste has been awarded two Ig Nobel Prizes. The 1991 Ig Nobel in Chemistry describes Jacques Benveniste as being a "prolific proseletizer and dedicated correspondent of "Nature," for his persistent discovery that water, H₂O, is an intelligent liquid, and for demonstrating to his satisfaction that water is able to remember events long after all trace of those events has vanished." He also received the 1998 Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his homeopathic discovery that not only does water have memory, but that the information can be transmitted over telephone lines and the Internet." This "discovery" appeared as a report on the "transfer of digitized antigen signal by telephone link" (see the reference below).

Benveniste was a maverick whose theories were dismissed by many other researchers. Yet his charm, charisma and rhetorical flair earned him a large following in France, and he remained genuinely convinced that he had discovered something important.

Benveniste died in Paris at the age of 69, after heart surgery. He is survived by five children.

Reference

• J. Benveniste, P. Jurgens, W. Hsueh and J. Aissa, Transatlantic Transfer of Digitized Antigen Signal by Telephone Link, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology - Program and abstracts of papers to be presented during scientific sessions AAAAI/AAI.CIS Joint Meeting February 21-26, 1997

See also

• Bad science
• Pathological science
• Protoscience
• Junk science
• Scientific misconduct

External links

DigiBio