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Dr. Royal Raymond Rife, Jr., Ph.D. was born in Elkhorn, Nebraska on May 16, 1888.

In 1905, he entered John Hopkins University to pursue medical studies, but his interest in

bacteriology took him into the world of microbiology. He then attended Heidelberg University in Germany, where he developed photomicrographs for their Atlas of Parasites. Heidelberg University was so appreciative, they awarded him an honorary Doctor of Parasitology.

From 1904 to 1908, Rife worked with Hans Luckel, Carl Zeiss’ optical scientist and researcher at Zeiss Optical Works. Passionate about the ability of microscopes to make organisms visible to the human eye, Rife set out to improve their resolution and magnification.

In 1912, Rife moved to San Diego, California where he established his first research laboratory.

In 1920, he began constructing his first microscope and patented a high-intensity lamp for

microscope use in 1929 (Patent #1727618). Some of his technological inventions are still used today in the fields of optics, electronics, radiochemistry, biochemistry, ballistics and aviation.

In 1913, Dr. Rife met with industrial tycoon Henry Timken. Timken sought Dr. Rife’s help to solve a quality control manufacturing problem. Dr. Rife designed and built an X-ray machine that checked each bearing coming out of the plant and rejected any faulty bearings before they were sent out as finished products. This saved the company millions of dollars. Timken was so pleased that he set up a monthly lifetime payment to Dr. Rife.

When Mrs. Timken fell ill, baffling her doctors, Dr. Rife suspected it might be something she was eating - so made a search of her kitchen. Analyzing various foods with his microscope, he pinpointed the cause: bacteria in her spice cabinet. She soon regained her health. Dr. Rife was also able to restore health to Timken’s sister, Amelia Bridges (who happened to be married to Henry Timken’s business partner). When she died in 1940, she left Dr. Rife $50,000 to continue his work. Henry Timken and his partner, Bridges, were so impressed with Dr. Rife they set up a fund to finance a fully equipped laboratory at Point Loma, California.

In the 1930s, Dr. Rife was frustrated by the limitations of conventional light microscopy. The most powerful light microscopes in existence only reached a magnification of 2500X - allowing scientists to see molds, bacteria and parasites, but not viruses. Since Dr. Rife believed viruses were at the root of many diseases, he believed with a more powerful microscope, he could find the true cause of many diseases. Hence, Dr. Rife used the Point Loma laboratory and Timken’s generous funds to further develop his Universal Microscope and frequency therapy. Dr. Rife redesigned his microscope with even higher magnification. According to a report submitted to the Journal of the Franklin Institute, it had a magnification of 60,000X. The ocular was binocular, but it also had a detachable segment lower in the body for monocular observation at 1800X magnification. Rife’s Universal Microscope used all types of illumination: polarized, monochromatic or white light, darkfield, slit ultra and infrared. The monochromatic light caused the organism to fluoresce. As with bacteria, Dr. Rife could identify the virus he was observing by the colour it refracted.

Rife’s Universal Microscope used different mediums for bending light than normal optics. One factor enabling these natural images was Dr. Rife's use of a device called a Risley counter-rotating prism. This consists of two circular, wedge-shaped prisms, mounted face-to-face and set in a geared-bezel, and so geared as to turn each prism through 360 degrees in opposite directions by means of an extended handle. Rife built a special mount under the stage to accommodate these instruments, and through which he directed a powerful monochromatic beam from his patented lamp. At various declinations of the refracted and polarized ray, normally invisible bodies would become visible in a colour peculiar to their structure or chemical make-up. All optical elements in this microscope were made of block quartz, which permits the passage of ultraviolet rays.

Dr. Rife soon discovered that organisms have a natural range of refraction to various light

environments. This suggested that organisms could be classified, identified by their index of refraction using the Risley prism under the Universal Microscope. The result of using a resonant wavelength is that microorganisms which are invisible in white light suddenly become visible in a brilliant flash of light when they are exposed to the colour frequency that resonates with their own distinct spectroscopic signature (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance utilizes the same principle in the electromagnetic spectrum). Dr. Rife was thus able to see these otherwise invisible organisms and watch them actively invading tissue cultures.

Dr. Rife began working with Lee de Forest, the father of modern vacuum tubes, and an important contributor to early radio technology. Lee de Forest helped Dr. Rife develop his frequency generators utilizing plasma tubes and radiofrequencies. Dr. Rife further developed frequency generating devices to emit resonant frequencies - which, he observed, would destroy the organisms he was viewing. These eventually became known as the Rife ray-beam device. Dr. Rife discovered that a simple electromagnetic wave was not enough to destroy a microorganism - but a radio frequency wave was readily accepted by the body if it was emitted by a gas within a glass tube. Dr. Rife called the frequency that destroyed or killed an organism its Mortal Oscillatory Rate (Resonance) or MOR. An analogy of this phenomena is that of an opera singer who uses his/her voice to shatter a crystal glass. The glass vibrates at a particular frequency - when the opera singer sings at that same frequency, the glass shatters in the same way an organism explodes

when exposed to its MOR.

The original Rife ray-beam device utilized a radio transmitter to excite a gas plasma (helium) formed within a vacuum glass tube. Dr. Rife found that both the plasma tube and the electronics played a crucial role in the ability of the device to create physiologic effects.

Atoms that form a molecule are held together in that molecular configuration with a covalent energy bond which both emits and absorbs its own specific electromagnetic frequency. No two species of molecule have the same electromagnetic oscillations or energetic signature. Resonance amplifies light in the same way two ocean waves intensify each other when they merge together.

Over time, Rife’s microscope enabled him to catalogue the Mortal Oscillatory Rate (MOR) of numerous pathogens. One of the first was the tuberculosis bacterium (Mycobacterium

tuberculosis). At that time - and even now - tuberculosis was a huge global killer. Dr. Rife wanted to discover its MOR in hopes of eradicating the disease.

Dr. Rife considered a disease cured when he could destroy a microorganism ten consecutive times using its MOR. According to his surviving records, he determined the MOR for at least 24 microorganisms, including tuberculosis, anthrax, cholera, tetanus, B. coli, influenza, spinal meningitis, pneumonia, syphilis, gonorrhea, leprosy, streptococcus, conjunctivitis, bubonic plague, staphylococcus, diphtheria, and typhoid.

In 1931, Dr. Rife was introduced to Dr. Milbank Johnson, the head of a regional medical board and affiliated with the University of Southern California (USC) medical department. Dr. Johnson had come to California in 1893 to start up the Alhambra (CA) hospital. He was a member of the American Medical Association, the Los Angeles and the Southern California Medical Associations, and from 1906 to 1933, a Director of the Pacific Mutual Insurance Company. Dr. Johnson admired and respected Dr. Rife's ideas and ingenuity. As the head of a regional medical institution, Dr. Johnson had political clout in the national medical community.

At the turn of the century (1903-1905), Dr. Johnson had been a founder (and the 2nd President) of the Automobile Club of Southern California - he was also a driving force behind the development of the Rife ray-tube machine. His friendship and support enabled Dr. Rife to continue his research unabated by medical authority throughout the 1930's.

Dr. Johnson introduced Dr. Rife to two renowned bacteriologists interested

in pleomorphism research: Dr. Arthur Kendall of Northwestern University in Chicago and Dr. E. C.  Rosenow of the Rochester, Minnesota Mayo Clinic. These two bacteriologists used Rife’s Universal Microscope to confirm his theories. William D. Coolidge, physicist, also become involved with Dr. Rife’s research.

Americans nationwide read of Dr. Rife and his treatments in the June 1931 edition of Popular Science. During this time, many articles and news stories appeared regarding his remarkable accomplishments. Doctors from all over the United States came to observe what he was doing and to verify his results.

Continuing his research, Dr. Rife managed to isolate a virus from the biopsy of a breast cancer patient - and observed that this virus gave off a distinctive purple-red light. He named the virus Bacillus X (BX) and found it present in every carcinoma tissue he examined. Whereas the accepted science of that time believed only in monomorphism, Rife noted that the BX virus was actually pleomorphic (it changed its form based on its terrain). (Rife's colleagues - working with less powerful microscopes - saw only the shells of dead viruses and bacteria; whereas Rife - with his more powerful microscope - could see the mutable morphing of microorganisms. It was around this time that Dr. Rife discovered the BX virus’ MOR - and was able to destroy it. Using a special medium Dr. Kendall had developed for culturing virus, the two men succeeded in culturing the BX virus. They had little success at first; but when Dr. Rife accidentally left a tube in the glow of an ionizing lamp, he noticed the tube clouded (indicating activity). They then performed the culture in a partial vacuum (or anaerobic environment) and stimulated them with the ionizing light. Their work was the first successful culturing of a virus outside a living

host. Dr. Rife experimented by introducing the BX virus into rats, which caused the rats to develop tumors. Dr. Rife was able to eliminate the tumors by exposing them to their MOR via his ray-beam device. In light of these incredible results, Dr. Johnson insisted it was time to try the ray-beam on humans.

In 1934, a USC team of physicians, led by Dr. Johnson, transferred sixteen terminally ill patients from a San Diego hospital to the Scripps estate in La Jolla, California. Here they were subjected to the frequencies recommended by Dr. Rife for a period of 90 days.

Within 70 days, the USC team declared 14 of the patients clinically cured. The other 2 took 20 days longer. Dr. Rife found that more frequent sessions did not allow the lymphatic system enough time to remove the toxins released from the destroyed virus and remove them from the body. Hence, the treatments included short breaks with nutrients to promote lymphatic elimination of the destroyed microbes.

By the mid-1930's, Dr. Rife had successfully researched and documented the MOR frequencies of numerous pathogens. He had also perfected his ray-beam device, which used a helium plasma lamp and very precise radio-frequencies. Very few of the machines had been built (ca. 4-6); being a new technology, they were expensive and difficult to manufacture. Although there were other MDs who had used the ray-beam machine to successfully treat their patients, the general medical establishment was not interested. Determining the exact frequencies which would devitalize various pathogens remained Dr. Rife's primary focus. Dr. Rife needed a better facility in which to do his work. His longtime supporter Dr. Johnson approached Henry Timken regarding funds for a new laboratory. Construction began in April 1936, and in August 1936, Dr. Rife moved in.

Around this time, Dr. Rife had been advised to spend no more than 2 hours a day on the Universal Microscope, as his eyesight was failing. His non-stop work at the microscope had taken its toll. Moreover, Dr. Rife was using quartz optics, and a small mercury-vapor light (which produced quite a bit of ultraviolet light). That UV light might also have contributed to his failing eyesight.

Around 1936, Dr. Rife realized his ray-tube device was too large and needed to be made

more manageable. Dr. Rife contracted an individual who understood his invention - and who knew how to manufacture his device more compactly, while maintaining its efficiency. That man was Philip Hoyland, an electrical engineer who lived in nearby Altadena, CA. Rife and Hoyland formed the Beam Ray Corporation with the idea of making and distributing the machines to clinicians and physicians. Hoyland built most, if not all, of the early Rife ray-tube machines.

Enter Morris Fishbein - Secretary of the American Medical Association (1924-50) and Chief Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association. His rise to power began by labeling natural healers (particularly Native American shamans, midwives, and chiropractors), as “quacks” and members of an “unscientific cult”. He also campaigned against cannabis and herbal medicine (Hoxsey Therapy). Essentially, Fishbein sought to dominate the field of medicine by discrediting anything he could not directly control. In 1939, he tried purchasing the exclusive rights to Rife's technology. When Rife rejected his advances, Fishbein was ruthless in his pursuit - even offering legal assistance to

Phil Hoyland to sue Dr. Rife for sole ownership of the company. A tragic and lengthy lawsuit ensued. Whereas commercial production of the ray-beam devices had ceased completely during the Great Depression, the 1939 trial put an end to any proper, scientific scrutiny of Rife's frequency therapy. Moreover, the legal bills bankrupted Beam Ray Corporation. Dr. Rife eventually won the lawsuit, but unable to cope with the stress of the suit and the loss of his company, Dr. Rife turned to alcohol.

Fishbein continued to use his power within the AMA to halt any further scientific evaluation or studies of Dr. Rife's work. It took decades, but in 1987, Judge Susan Getzendanner found the AMA and others guilty of an illegal conspiracy against the chiropractic profession. She ordered a permanent injunction against them, and forced the AMA to print the court’s findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In March 1939, just as scientists were preparing to announce confirmation of Dr. Rife's

research, arson destroyed the multimillion-dollar Burnett Lab in New Jersey. At the same time, many papers and photographs in Dr. Rife's San Diego laboratory disappeared, as did several parts of his Universal Microscope.

Physicians in California using Rife’s ray-beam therapy were threatened with loss of their licenses if they continued using the therapy. While some physicians went underground, and others retreated to Mexico, most abandoned their equipment rather than risk losing their medical licenses.

1n 1939, Dr. Rife was formally invited to address the Royal Society of Medicine in London - which had recently verified his findings. He also received invitations to speak in France and Germany. Dr. R. Seidel formally announced the Rife ray-beam therapy for the treatment of cancer in the Journal of the Franklin Institute in February 1944.

Dr. Rife's microscopes and treatments of viral and bacterial infections were described and praised by the Smithsonian Institute in an article published in 1944.

Amidst the positive results and continued support of many physicians and scientists, Dr. Rife continued to attract negative press and ruthless people, mainly from the pharmaceutical sectors, the AMA, and Harvard University. 

Dr. Arthur Kendall, the Director of the Northwestern School of Medicine (who worked with Dr. Rife on the BX cancer virus), accepted almost a quarter of a million dollars to suddenly “retire” to Mexico. Dr. George Dock was also silenced with an enormous grant (along with the highest honours the AMA could bestow). Most doctors gave up and went back to prescribing pharmaceuticals. Members of the pharmaceutical industrial complex knew if Rife’s ray-tube technology continued to develop and spread, it would eventually result

in the loss of millions of dollars of revenue, as well as the elimination of entire fields of medical science and research devoted to chemical-based medicine. Several doctors who defended Dr. Rife lost their research foundation grants - and even their hospital privileges.

In 1944, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Rife’s lifelong supporter and friend, died suspiciously of alleged food poisoning. In the late 1940’s, Dr. Rife made another attempt at manufacturing and distributing his ray-beam devices with new, improved technology. He partnered with an engineer named John Crane, as well as with Crane's supervisor at Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (Convair) in San Diego, John Marsh. Their company was called Allied Industries. Since much of his research, schematics, and documentation were destroyed in 1939, Dr. Rife did all he could to provide as much information as he could from memory (including details of the MORs used to destroy organisms). Fortunately, Dr. Gruner of Canada, who had worked with Dr. Rife in the 1930’s, had a circuit diagram of Hoyland’s Rife ray-tube instrument and sent Crane a copy.

Crane, Rife and Marsh employed audio frequencies in the instruments they built. Crane also lowered Hoyland’s frequencies by a factor of 10.

In December 1953, with Crane’s encouragement and with increasing confidence as he saw his work being revived, Dr. Rife wrote a report entitled History of the Development of a Successful Treatment for Cancer and other Virus, Bacteria and Fungi. The Rife Virus Microscope Institute in San Diego published the report. In it, Dr. Rife described his methods and the results achieved with his cancer cure.

In 1954, Allied Industries applied for a research grant. Dr. Rife was listed as the Director of

Research and Principal Investigator; John Crane as Manager and Design Engineer; Verne

Thompson as Chief Electronics Engineer; Don Tully as Development Associate; Cameron Bland as Electronics Engineer; and Dr. James Couche, MD, as a consultant to the company.

By 1956, Allied Industries had changed its name to Life Labs Inc. with Crane as President and Dr. Rife as Chief of Research. By 1960, some 90 Rife ray-tube machines had been built and distributed for use across America, and into England. Just as operations were becoming promising again, tragedy struck Dr. Rife both personally and professionally. In 1957, Rife’s beloved wife of 45 years, Mamie Quill died. Next, the AMA and the FDA raided Crane's office and confiscated $20,000 worth of equipment, electronic parts, engineering data, research records and reports - as well as his pictures off the wall, private letters, invoices and tape recordings. This was reputedly executed without a search warrant.

Others with Rife instruments (doctors and non-doctors) had theirs confiscated as well. The

partners of Life Labs Inc. were served with summons regarding “the manufacture and sale of illegal medical devices” and "practicing medicine without a license." Dr. Rife,

then almost 73, and unable to handle more stress, retreated to Mexico. John Crane and John Marsh were criminally indicted. On March 7, 1961, while in Mexico, Dr. Rife

provided a sworn deposition to assist with Crane’s defense. In the Spring of 1961, the case of The People of the State of California vs. John Marsh, Lallas Bateson, and John Crane came to trial. The judge did not permit Dr. Rife's deposition - nor did he allow any medical reports from the 1930's and 1940's to be presented as evidence. The trial lasted 24 days; Crane and Marsh were both found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

After an appeal to the State Supreme Court, two of the three counts against Crane were reversed "because no specific criminal intent had been proven." Crane and Marsh spent a total of three years in prison.

On August 5, 1971, at the age of 83, Dr. Royal Rife died of a heart attack in El Cajon, California. Dr. Royal Raymond Rife, PhD. was a brilliant and gifted man, a true humanitarian, whose life purpose and work were finding a cure for diseases. He developed some of the world’s most powerful optical microscopes and discovered a unique non-pharmaceutical method to destroy pathogenic organisms using frequency resonance. Though he died in 1971, interest in his research and discoveries did not.

While some of the chronological details of Dr Rifes life have been recorded differently by authors, every effort has been made here to represent the events of Dr Rifes life and work with accuracy and objectivity.