Austrian psychologist Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was persecuted in Europe for his sex theories. He later claimed to discover the secrets of cosmic life energy, called "orgone," and an easy way to accumulate it in a booth or a tube, equally useful for curing cancer or busting clouds. His sales and advertising of the orgone accumulator were suppressed by the USA Food and Drug Administration during the 1950's, raising civil rights concerns. He is considered by some to be a crackpot, and even some sympathetic biographers have believed that his sanity was compromised under the strain of his last years. He died in prison after treating the court case against him with contemptuous disregard.
More information