Persecuted psychoanalyst who trained under Freud. Claimed that the release of energy at orgasm could be measured and used to cure cancer - this unit of energy is called the Orgone. Experimented with rainmaking cloudbuster devices. Imprisoned by the actions of the FDA who ordered all of his equipment and journals destroyed. Died in prison. Children's illustrator William Steig, a patient of Reich's, was among the witnesses of Reich's Last Will and Testament and had provided illustrations for his 1948 book "Listen, Little Man!"
[1] Federal Penitentiary, Lewisburg, PA.
Father: Leon Reich (d. 1914 pneuemonia)
Mother: Cecilie Reich (d. 1910 second suicide attempt)
Brother: Robert Reich (b. 1900, d. 1925? tuberculosis)
Wife: Annie Pink (m. 1924, div. 1934, psychoanalyst)
Wife: Elsa Lindenberg (open marriage, m. 1933, div. 1939, dancer)
Wife: Ilse Ollendorff (m. 1946, div. 1951, lab assistant)
Wife: Aurora Karrer (m. 1955, medical technician)
Daughter: Eva Reich (b. 1924)
Daughter: Lore Reich (b. 1928)
Son: Peter Reich (b. 1944)
Medical School: MD, University of Vienna (1922)
Professor: Psychoanalytic Institute of Vienna (1924)
Communist Party Austria (1928-1930)
Communist Party Germany (spokesman, 1930-1933)
Naturalized US Citizen
Inmate: Danbury Prison
Inmate: Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
Heart Attack (Oct-1951)
Contempt of Court
Risk Factors: Psoriasis, Orgone
Rotten Library Page:
Wilhelm Reich
Author of books:
The Function of the Orgasm (1927)
Character Analysis (1933)
Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933, banned by Nazis)
The Sexual Revolution (1936)
The Bion (1938)
Bion Experiments and the Cancer Problem (1939)
The Murder of Christ (1946)
The Cancer Biopathy (1948)
Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Ether, God and Devil (1951)
Cosmic SuperImposition (1951)
People in Trouble (1953)
Contact with Space (1957)
Creation (1957, written in prison, lost manuscript)
Born: 