Karl Riley

Karl Riley's breakthrough discoveries as to the causes of high magnetic fields in buildings were helped by his not being either an electrician or an electrical engineer. A fresh viewpoint was needed. He had just retired from science teaching on Marthas Vineyard (MA, Columbia T.C.) when a neighbor asked for help when her guests were getting electric shocks from her outdoor shower. His investigation, using a simple voltmeter, showed the utility company where to dig. They uncovered a sliced hot...See more

Karl Riley's breakthrough discoveries as to the causes of high magnetic fields in buildings were helped by his not being either an electrician or an electrical engineer. A fresh viewpoint was needed. He had just retired from science teaching on Marthas Vineyard (MA, Columbia T.C.) when a neighbor asked for help when her guests were getting electric shocks from her outdoor shower. His investigation, using a simple voltmeter, showed the utility company where to dig. They uncovered a sliced hot conductor, cut earlier by a plumber's back hoe. Thus Karl's interest was directed to electrical problems just as Paul Brodeur's book, Currents of Death, focused interest on the health effects of power line magnetic fields and the resulting controversies and denials. He began attending national health conferences focusing on this link, sponsored by the Department of Energy and the utilities. He soon realized this link was real, and focused on designing a more economical magnetic field meter for general use. This he achieved with superior accuracy, and sold under the company name of Magnetic Sciences International. His gaussmeters sold to utilities, electricians and to home owners. They went out to many countries around the world. At this time he moved to California and soon became busy as a consultant and magnetic field surveyor for home owners, businesses, schools, and for the California Health Services, which sponsored many health effects studies. He was chosen to do the discovery phase of the large CA school magnetic field study, uncovering the wiring errors in the Pilot study of 5 schools. Following this he received a CA grant to produce a video for electricians showing them how to trace magnetic fields to their source in wiring errors (Now a DVD). He responded to requests to find field sources in buildings in 17 states. It was clear that this was a new challenge for electricians as well as electrical engineers, so a book was needed, and Karl wrote the first edition in 1995 while attending a health conference in Copenhagen. Though the basic methods have not needed improvement, additional info on grounding and instrumentation were added in 2005 and 2012 revisions. His book was recognized as important by Mike Holt, author of instructional books for electricians, and Karl was invited to be a moderator on Mike's Code Forum for electricians. Karl is semi-retired but still responds to calls for consultations. See less