Wilhelm Reich was a psychoanalyst who broke from Sigmund Freud and later developed the theory of “orgone energy,” which he claimed was a measurable life force. After emigrating to the United States, his work drew increasing controversy. In the 1950s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration obtained a court order banning his orgone accumulators and restricting distribution of related publications. Authorities destroyed his devices and large quantities of his books. Reich was later convicted of cont