Ryzl, Milan (1928-)

Czech biochemist who experimented in the field of parapsychology. Born May 22, 1928, at Prague, Czechoslovakia, he studied at Charles University, Prague (D.Sc., 1952). He became a biochemist at the Institute of Biology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science, was a charter associate of the Parapsychology Association, and the winner of the 1962 McDougall Award for parapsychology research. He is considered one of the leading authorities on parapsychology in the West.

Ryzl took a special interest in paranormal cognition of subjects under hypnosis, and developed a method by which the ESP of such subjects may be brought under voluntary control. He organized a parapsychology study group in Prague, but later defected from Czechoslovakia and obtained a position as a biochemist at San José College, California. He worked for a time at the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University and in 1963 wrote a series of papers with J. G. Pratt. He is credited as being the first person to write on parapsychology in Communist Europe.