1 article for "Duncan, Gary"

(Neil Llewellyn Bloch) August 6, 1931, 1:13 am pst, Fullerton, CA, 117W56/33n53 (d. June 19, 1988).

One of the most important research astrologers of this the twentieth-century. One of the last of the "old guard" of technical astrologers, a group that also included Charles Jayne. Duncan's mother studied astrology under Evangeline Adams and Max Heindel, and taught astrology during the time she carried him. His real name was Neil Llewellyn Bloch, Llewellyn coming from his mother's association with Llewellyn George. Duncan grew up around the Rosicrucian Fellowship of Max Heindel. From early on, he was steeped in its esoteric spiritual climate. He gave his first astrological classes there at the arego thirteen. Llewellyn George became a close friend and subsequently introduced him to Donald Bradley (Garth Allen) and Cyril Fagan. Bradley became the primary influence in Duncan's development. They began statistical investigations of some of Fagan's claims regarding sidereal astrology. Duncan was still in high school at the time, having studying advanced mathematics already for some time. Duncan became convinced of the efficacy of sidereal methods. He insisted, however, that any serious statistical study should evaluate 30 different zodiacs, spaced one degree apart. Some of Duncan's statistical studies include 6,281 professional baseball players, 1,113 prize fighters, 7,000 doctors, and 8,928 members of the United States Congress. His most impressive piece of research is a study of 43,000 psychologists. Duncan was adamant that all statistical work be done using the most stringent rules and methods of science. His aim was to make the results above the reproach of the scientific community. He was a part of that community. Among other things, he was a computer scientist (with an immense knowledge of mainframes and mini computers) and professional astronomer. He lectured in celestial mechanics, numerical analysis and statistics. He claimed to be the first astrologers ever to use a computer and to have performed statistical work on these machines. He helped develop the advanced lunar equations used by NASA for space work, while working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Duncan was very proud of the fact that he was the first astrologer to produce an astro-locality map on a computer, in the 1950s. He was also an excellent concert pianist, at one time acclaimed the most outstanding musician in Southern California. In addition to his statistical work, Duncan's work on angular separations also stands out. He was the first astrologers to program and use laser printers. In his study of 43,000 psychologists, Duncan dared to challenge the traditional astrological dependency on standard aspects, in particular the Ptolemaic set. He showed (through a superb set of laser graphics) how odd angular separations showed real statistical significance. Instead of the significance peaking at a traditional angle such as 90 degrees, for example, he showed, rather, that an angle of 79 degrees might be where a peak occurred. Duncan suggested astrologers abandon any preconceived notions as to which aspects were important and see what the data revealed. Duncan helped establish GRR! (Grass Roots Research, one of the most forward-looking plans for collecting real data sets ever established. Using the home computer and hundreds of volunteers, Duncan planned to enter vast quantities of raw data in a computer readable form.

See also:
♦ Sidereal Astrology