Marcel Joseph Vogel was born April 14, 1917, in San Francisco. As a child he suffered from respiratory difficulties and at the age of six had a near death experience -- he was officially pronounced dead of double lobar pneumonia. So profound was the impact of this experience that it was very difficult for the young Marcel to return to the so called “normalcy” of childhood. In fact, he never did. He claimed that at this time he experienced a light and a sense of love and well being that was over- whelming. Physical plane life seemed pale in comparison leaving him, even at such a young age, to question the meaning of life. From the age of six he became increasingly interested in the study of the fireflies that he saw in his back yard. He wanted to know how this little insect could emit such a light. He applied this insatiable curiosity to himself as well. Each day he would walk to early morning Mass and in the quietness of prayer ask the question “Why am I here? What is t he purpose of my life?” After six years he heard a voice in his mind say “You will be a phosphor chemist. You will do pioneering work in luminescence. You will write a book and create your own business.” Quite a tall order for a young man of eleven years! He and his father, Joseph, built a laboratory in the back of their home and young Marcel set about attempting to duplicate the chemical that made the fireflies in his backyard glow. At the age of twelve he had synthesized the chemical compound 3-aminophthalaz-1-4 dione. This compound, when mixed in water with potassium ferro-cyanide and hydrogen peroxide, produces a chemiluminescence that matches the light of the firefly. He continued to try to make a set of phosphors that would produce ligh t in a tubular form. This was before the advent of fluorescent lights, but Marcel had seen a white powder of phosphor, in a tube, that would convert the ultra-violet radiation in the tube into a visible form – visible light. This was his main area of inte rest and even as a grammar school student he visited the Mechanics Institute and translated, from the German, original articles on phosphor chemistry. He then set about duplicating the outlined experiments in his own amateur laboratory. Marcel had synthesized and manufactured a set of phosphors before he was fifteen years old. His vision, at this early age, was that the proper phosphor system would be a rare earth phosphor. The cation, or positively charged ion would be composed of a rare earth compound like Europium, and the anion, or negatively charged ion would consist of a tungstate or silicate structure. These ideas came from the translated scientific papers that were published in the “Analan der Physik” and other German scientific publications of the time. His objective before going to college, based on the answer to his years of prayer from the ages of six to twelve, was to become of phosphor chemist. He was able to see the blending of chemistry and physics that would bring about the advent of solid state physics. As was the case throughout his life, Marcel wanted to be on the forefront of what, in his vision, was the science of the future. Throughout his high school and college years Marcel systematically researched all the existing publications and papers in the field of luminescence. There were no courses available so he had to teach himself. He majored in chemistry and physics at the University of San Francisco, working at night to fund his education Unfortunately, due to deteriorat ing health, he was unable to graduate with his class. From 1940 his education was completed privately with Doctor Peter Pringsheim. The two met when Doctor Pringsheim, a German refugee professor, was attempting to find information about luminescence at th e university library. The librarian referred him to a young student, Marcel Vogel, who had apparently read everything in the library on the subject and would be of more value to him than the librarian. Two years later the two men jointly published The Luminescence of Liquids and Solids and their Practical Application (Wiley Interscience-1943). This book has since gone through three editions and was translated into German in 1953. It is currently out of print.
Following the book's publication, Vogel Luminescence Corporation was established. Between 1944 and 1957, Marcel spearheaded the production of fluorescent paints for outdoor signage, creating a range of fluorescent media including oil colors, phosphorescent paints, chalk, crayons, day-glo colors, and more. Additionally, he developed specialized products such as invisible ink, tracing powders, and tagging powders used with insecticides, all detectable with portable black lights which were also his creation. Marcel also designed black light kits for detecting cancer, rodent contamination, and inspecting milk.
Collaborating with Ralph Benson, Marcel authored a paper titled "Vulvar Fluorescents: The Early Detection of Pregnancy and the Advent of Carcinoma." Furthermore, Vogel Luminescence patented an egg candler that utilized ultraviolet and visible light to detect Pseudomonis fluorescence bacteria in contaminated chicken eggs.
During his tenure at Vogel Luminescence, Marcel engaged in part-time consulting for IBM. Together with Ralph Flores and Don Johnson, he developed a magnetic coating formulation for IBM hard disks, which remains in use today. This breakthrough was not a straightforward process; it involved numerous failed attempts until Marcel had a revelation during a dream, leading to the successful creation of a stable magnetic coating.
In 1957, Vogel Luminescence was acquired by Ultra Violet Products, and Marcel transitioned to a full-time research role at IBM. Despite lacking formal academic credentials, his creativity and brilliance flourished at IBM, where he became one of the most prolific inventors in the Data Products Division's history. His patents spanned various fields, including magnetic recording media, liquid crystals, rare earth phosphors, opto-electronics, photo-relays, digital displays, degassification of liquids, dark field microscopy, organic and inorganic photoconduction, and more.
In 1969, Marcel conducted a course in creativity for engineers at IBM. Inspired by an article about Cleve Backster's research on plant responsiveness to human interaction, Marcel, initially skeptical, decided to explore the concept of human-plant communication further.
Marcel delved into exploring the Backster effect, which involved using plants as transducers for the bio-energetic fields emitted by the human mind. Through experiments with split-leaf philodendrons connected to a Wheatstone Bridge, he observed that plants responded to thought. When he released his breath slowly, there was minimal response, but when he pulsed his breath through his nostrils while focusing on a thought, the plants reacted significantly. Surprisingly, the distance from the plants didn't affect their responsiveness, challenging the traditional understanding of thought's influence based on the inverse square law. These findings marked Marcel's transition from a purely rational scientist to a more spiritually inclined one.
Marcel noticed that plants responded more to the thought of being harmed than to the actual act. For instance, tearing a leaf from one plant triggered a response in another plant only if he paid attention to it, suggesting that plants mirrored his mental responses and stored the energy of his thoughts. Marcel concluded that thoughts possess energy, and when pulsed, this energy becomes coherent and powerful, akin to a laser beam. He emphasized that love is the most potent cohering agent, a notion that diverged from conventional scientific perspectives.
While some scientists viewed love as an unscientific concept, Marcel regarded it as a fundamental force akin to gravity, essential for understanding subtle aspects of life. He critiqued scientists who focused solely on proving preconceived notions, contrasting them with true scientists driven by curiosity. Marcel's insights into plant consciousness and the influence of thought on living organisms were documented in books like "The Secret Life of Plants" and "Psychic Exploration: A Challenge to Science."
In 1974, during his lectures on plant consciousness, Marcel encountered Dr. McKistry, who introduced him to quartz crystals that vibrated when held. Despite experiencing the vibrations himself, Marcel initially remained unimpressed but accepted a small quartz point as a gift. Little did he know, this seemingly insignificant gift would later inspire the invention of the Vogel Crystal.