James Randi
E6348
author
human
lecturer
non-profit organization
paranormal research hoax experiment
prize for demonstrating paranormal ability
science communicator
skeptic
stage magician
television personality
James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician and prominent skeptic best known for debunking paranormal and pseudoscientific claims through rigorous scientific investigation and public challenges.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| James Randi canonical | 38 |
| The Amazing Randi | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T56487 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: James Randi Context triple: [Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, foundedBy, James Randi]
-
A.
Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz was an American philosopher and prominent secular humanist who became a leading advocate of scientific skepticism and critical inquiry into paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
-
B.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator known for popularizing astronomy and hosting shows like "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey."
-
C.
Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, and science communicator best known for popularizing science through works like the book and television series "Cosmos."
-
D.
Erich Neumann
Erich Neumann was a German economist and Nazi official who held senior positions in the Third Reich’s economic administration and participated in high-level policy meetings during World War II.
-
E.
Linda Salzman Sagan
Linda Salzman Sagan is an American artist and writer best known for co-designing the Pioneer plaque and contributing to other interstellar message projects alongside Carl Sagan.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: James Randi Target entity description: James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician and prominent skeptic best known for debunking paranormal and pseudoscientific claims through rigorous scientific investigation and public challenges.
-
A.
Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz was an American philosopher and prominent secular humanist who became a leading advocate of scientific skepticism and critical inquiry into paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
-
B.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator known for popularizing astronomy and hosting shows like "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey."
-
C.
Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, and science communicator best known for popularizing science through works like the book and television series "Cosmos."
-
D.
Erich Neumann
Erich Neumann was a German economist and Nazi official who held senior positions in the Third Reich’s economic administration and participated in high-level policy meetings during World War II.
-
E.
Linda Salzman Sagan
Linda Salzman Sagan is an American artist and writer best known for co-designing the Pioneer plaque and contributing to other interstellar message projects alongside Carl Sagan.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (65)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
author
ⓘ
human ⓘ lecturer ⓘ non-profit organization ⓘ paranormal research hoax experiment ⓘ prize for demonstrating paranormal ability ⓘ science communicator ⓘ skeptic ⓘ stage magician ⓘ television personality ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
The Amazing Randi
ⓘ
linked to:
James Randi
|
| awardReceived |
MacArthur Fellowship
ⓘ
Philip J. Klass Award ⓘ Richard Dawkins Award ⓘ |
| causeOfDeath | age-related causes ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship |
Canada
ⓘ
United States of America ⓘ |
| created | One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge ⓘ |
| dateOfBirth | 1928-08-07 ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | 2020-10-20 ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
magic
ⓘ
paranormal investigation ⓘ science education ⓘ scientific skepticism ⓘ skepticism ⓘ |
| founded | James Randi Educational Foundation ⓘ |
| fullName | Randall James Hamilton Zwinge ⓘ |
| genre |
popular science
ⓘ
skeptical literature ⓘ |
| hasWebsite | https://web.randi.org/ ⓘ |
| influenced |
Massimo Polidoro
ⓘ
Michael Shermer ⓘ Penn Jillette ⓘ Teller ⓘ |
| knownFor | One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge ⓘ |
| languageOfWorkOrName | English ⓘ |
| movement |
atheism
ⓘ
humanism ⓘ scientific skepticism ⓘ |
| notableFor |
appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
ⓘ
debunking paranormal claims ⓘ debunking pseudoscience ⓘ exposing Uri Geller on television ⓘ public challenges to psychics ⓘ |
| notableWork |
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
ⓘ
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions ⓘ The Faith Healers ⓘ The Truth About Uri Geller ⓘ |
| occupation |
escape artist
ⓘ
lecturer ⓘ magician ⓘ professional skeptic ⓘ writer ⓘ |
| participatedIn | Project Alpha ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ⓘ
linked to:
Toronto
|
| placeOfDeath | Plantation, Florida, United States of America ⓘ |
| positionHeld |
founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation
ⓘ
president of the James Randi Educational Foundation ⓘ |
| religion | atheism ⓘ |
| residence | Plantation, Florida, United States of America ⓘ |
| sexualOrientation | gay ⓘ |
| spouse | Deyvi Peña ⓘ |
| workedOn |
exposure of faith healing frauds
ⓘ
investigations of psychic surgery ⓘ investigations of spoon-bending claims ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: James Randi Description of subject: James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician and prominent skeptic best known for debunking paranormal and pseudoscientific claims through rigorous scientific investigation and public challenges.
Referenced by (41)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.