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Volume 11: Number 1: Article 2
Is the "Mars Effect" Genuine?
Paul Kurtz, Jan Willem Nienhuys, Ranjit Sandhu, State University
of New York, c/o PO Box 32, Buffalo, NY 14215
Gauquelin claimed that there is a statistically significant correlation
between the positions of Mars and the times and places of birth of sports
champions. Independent scientists have attempted to replicate this hypothesis
without success. We provide a brief history: the Comité Para, the Zelen
and U.S. tests, and a recent French test. Ertel and Irving, in sifting
through the data, attempt to rescue Gauquelin's thesis. Ertel introduced
his "eminence test", and Ertel and Irving their "IMQ bias indicator."
However, they presuppose what they set out to prove. We conclude that
there is insufficient evidence for the "Mars effect", and that this
effect may be attributed to Gauquelin's selective bias in either discarding
or adding data post hoc.
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