James Randi

James Randi is a CanadianAmerican retired stage magician and scientific skeptic who has extensively challenged paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the cofounder of Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation . He began his career as a magician named The Amazing Randi, and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively calls woowoo. Randi retired from practicing magic aged 60, and from the JREF aged 87.

Randi was born on August 7, 1928 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Marie Alice and George Randall Zwinge. He has a younger brother and sister. He took up magic after seeing Harry Blackstone, Sr. and reading conjuring books while spendingmonths in a body cast following a bicycle accident. He confounded doctors who expected he would never walk again. Randi often skipped classes and, at 17, dropped out of high school to perform as a conjurer in a carnival roadshow. He practised as a mentalist in local nightclubs and at Torontos Canadian National Exhibition and wrote for Montreals tabloid press.

Source: Wikipedia