August Klein

August Klein was an experimental psychologist who carried out his controversial researches into the nature and structure of memory during the 1960s at the University of South Dakota.

His research involved shattering the structure of memory using psycho active drugs and then analysing the components. He determined that memory was constructed of many mini episodes which he called 'play-lets' these where like navigation aids for the brain with each one pointing to memories from a specific period of time. He developed drug therapies which would isolate these playlets and enable the subject to recount these playlets in great detail. The experimenter could then analyse the nature and structure of these playlets and compare them to those of other subjects of different age, sex, social background etc..

Many considered Klein's breakthrough to be one of the most fundamental advances ever in psychology, others were convinced he was a charlatan and a dangerous one at that. He conducted his experiments on himself and a loyal band of volunteer collaborators. Although Klein was often linked with other 60s drug gurus like Timothy Leary this was a false comparison for Klein was firstly a scientist. The social aspects of the 60s culture had no interest for him, he was pursuing a scientific, intellectual goal. As he often said, " I am not a social scientist, I am a psychologist" Indeed while scientifically he was a radical socially he was quite conservative and it was widely rumored that he received secret funding from the Pentagon. Klein seemed to be adept at being all things to all men and he counted people such as Warhol, Hunter S Thompson and Bob Dylan among his friends. It may have been this celebrity that contributed to his demise for in 1970 his work came under scrutiny from University authorities, his funding was cut and he was suspended. While he may have weathered this storm worse was yet to come. New York tabloids picked up the story and with headlines such as "Mescaline Mayhem at our Universities" Klein quickly became the scapegoat for all the excesses of the 60s. He disappeared from sight and nothing was heard from him until the 80s when it was revealed that he had sold his research data( and this is testament to the rigorous scientific nature of his experiments) to a multinational pharmaceutical company for a figure rumoured to be in seven figures. The data was used in the development of a hugely successful anti-depression drug