José Salvador Fernández was an important Argentinian spiritist thinker and researcher of Parapsychology, born in Buenos Aires on February 17, 1893. In his youth, he graduated as a civil engineer at the University of Buenos Aires. He acted as a
distinguished professor of physics in several schools in the Argentine capital, having published at the age of 30 his first book, Problems of Physics.
His interest in paranormal phenomena and in Spiritism began in 1921, when he personally investigated the case of a certain psychic, famous for diagnosing and because of his healing mediumship. After that, he became a member of the Constancia Spiritist Association, where he observed, carefully, the mediumistic sessions held at that institution.
In 1933, he conducted research on his own wife, Maria Amanda Ravagnan, who at this time manifested mediumistic skills. Together with other collaborators, he founded the Atman Spiritualist Circle this same year.
From the outset, Fernandez's research was carried out per the metapsychic paradigm, which was characterized by qualitative methodology, and later, by becoming a pen pal with J. B. Rhine, adopted the parapsychological paradigm, with the use of quantitative methodology. Fernández was the main responsible for the dissemination among the Latin American countries of the mathematical methodology in the investigation of ESP phenomena, through his published articles or the Spanish translation of Rhine’s articles.
As a parapsychologist, Fernández acted as president of the Argentine Society of Parapsychology (1948-1953), the Argentinean Institute of Parapsychology (1953-1955) and the Argentine College of Psychic Studies (1957-1967).
José Salvador Fernández had a great performance in the Latin American Spiritist movement. In addition to being an active member in his Spiritist society, he was a lecturer, columnist and assistant editor of the Spiritist magazine Constancia. At the First Pan-American Spiritist Congress in 1946, he participated as a representative of the Argentine Spiritist Confederation and the Constancia Society, being chosen as the first president of the newly founded Pan-American Spiritist Confederation (CEPA). He also had a good relationship with Brazilian Spiritists, participating as honorary professor of the Institute of Spiritist Culture of Brazil (ICEB).
He was a friend, colleague, and research associate of Luiz di Cristóforo Postiglioni (1909-1979) with whom he shared the authorship of the book Scientific-Philosophical Foundations of Reincarnation.
José Fernández disincarnated on May 16, 1967, as a victim of a stroke. His greatest contribution to Spiritism was beyond the creation of a Spiritist theory of psychic phenomena, the demonstration of the importance of scientific experimentation in doctrinal development, with the application of new methods developed by Parapsychology in the investigation of mediumnistic phenomena.