Oliver Gatty (5 November 1907 – 5 June 1940) was a British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and psychical researcher.

Career

Gatty was born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. He was the second child and first son of

Stephen Herbert Gatty Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty (1849-1922) was the Chief Justice of Gibraltar from 16 January 1895 to 1905. He was formerly a judge of the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements. On December 19, 1904, he was named a Knight Bachelor. Personal life G ...

and his second wife, Katharine Morrison, daughter of

Alfred Morrison Alfred Morrison (1821 – 22 December 1897) was an English collector, known for his interest in works of art, autographs and manuscripts. Life The second son of James Morrison (1790–1857) the textile businessman, he inherited from his father a ...

. He worked at

Rothamsted Experimental Station Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. It is located at Harp ...

and then under

Eric Rideal Sir Eric Keightley Rideal, (11 April 1890 – 25 September 1974)Rideal, Sir Eric Keight ...

, Professor of Colloid Science at

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He also worked with

James Gray James, Jim, or Jimmy Gray may refer to: Politicians * James Gray (Australian politician) (1820–1889), member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly * James Gray (British politician) (born 1954), British politician * James Gray (mayor) (1862–1916 ...

in the Department of Zoology at Cambridge.> He worked at the Chemical Warfare Experimental Establishment at

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...

. He conducted experiments for the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

into

gas mask A gas mask is a mask used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas mask ...

smoke filters and

smoke screen A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships. Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...

ing techniques. Gatty was a member of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

. With

Theodore Besterman Theodore Deodatus Nathaniel Besterman (22 November 1904 – 10 November 1976) was a Polish-born British psychical researcher, bibliographer, biographer, and translator. In 1945 he became the first editor of the ''Journal of Documentation''. From ...

, he investigated the medium

Rudi Schneider Rudi Schneider (July 27, 1908 – April 28, 1957), son of Josef Schneider and brother of Willi Schneider, was an Austrian Spiritualist and physical medium. Underwood, Peter. (1978). ''Dictionary of the Supernatural''. Harrap. Roach, Mary. (2005) ...

in a series of experiments. The results were entirely negative. Gatty was skeptical of the claims of

dowsing Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in Ge ...

. In 1938, he examined ten cases and concluded that "all the reliable experimental evidence shows that dowsers cannot find hidden things by means other than the use of their five senses." He died in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

on 5 June 1940 as a result of injuries sustained in a

gas explosion A gas explosion is an explosion resulting from mixing a gas, typically from a gas leak, with air in the presence of an ignition source. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as nat ...

accident.

Personal life

He married Penelope Noel Mary Ingram Tower (1916 - 1975) in January 1939. Their only child, Tirril Olivia, was born in July 1940, a month after Gatty's death. Gatty's widow later married

Thomas Balogh, Baron Balogh Thomas Balogh, Baron Balogh (2 November 190520 January 1985), born Balog Tamás, was a British economist and member of the House of Lords. The elder son of a wealthy Budapest Jewish family (his father was head of public transport, his mother ...

, although this marriage ended in divorce.

Publications

* Gatty, Oliver; Besterman, Thedore (1934)
''Report of an Investigation Into the Mediumship of Rudi Schneider''
''Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research'' 42: 251–285. * Gatty, Oliver; Besterman, Thedore (1934)
''Investigation of Paraphysical Phenomena''
''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' 133: 569–570. * Gatty, Oliver; Besterman, Thedore (1934)
''Further Tests of the Medium Rudi Schneider''
''

'' 134: 965–966. * Gatty, Oliver. (1938)
''Science and Dowsers''
''Discovery: The Popular Journal of Knowledge'' 1 (6): 265-268.

Career

Personal life

Publications

References

Further reading