Gabriel Delanne

François Marie Gabriel Delanne (23 March 1857 – 15 February 1926) was a notable French spiritist, psychical researcher, writer, and electrical engineer. He is best known for his book, "Le Phénomène spirite" (The Spiritist phenomenon).

Life and work

Delanne was born in Paris in 1857. His father, Alexandre Delanne, was a friend of the well-known founder of Spiritism, Allan Kardec, and his mother was an automatic writing medium (Fr: "médium écrivain"). Delanne was one of the principal exponents of Spiritism, apart from Léon Denis after the death of Kardec.

Delanne's writings were mainly concerned with the question of the immortality of the soul and with reincarnation. As a spiritist, he favoured a scientific approach to psychic phenomena. He managed "La Revue scientifique et morale du spiritisme" (The Scientific and Ethical review of Spiritism), the journal of the "Union Spirite Française" (French Spiritist Union), from its first appearance in March 1883.

Gabriel Delanne died in Paris in 1926, and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.