Editing Unarius Academy of Science (section)

== Founders ==
Ernest claimed to have been a child prodigy, having read all his father's (a physician from [[Scandinavia]]) books alongside formal schooling. He claimed that as a child he performed for family, neighbors, and teachers unexpected feats such as moving a heavy rabbit hutch using [[Archimides|Archimedean]] principles and small logs, building radios, and winning arguments with parents and teachers. According to Unarius, he was a scientist and an aeronautical engineer from whom the idea of the television tube was stolen.<ref name=T2005>Tumminia, Diana (2005) p37</ref>

Claiming to possess [[psychic]] ability, Ernest began his metaphysical career [[Palmistry|reading palms]] and also claimed to have told women of their loved one's whereabouts and often deaths in 1942–1945 during [[World War II]].<ref name=T2005/> When his description of fatalities allegedly lowered morale at war plants where he worked, he left and started to give lectures of his own philosophy in theosophical churches during the mid to late 1940s.<ref>Norman; ''Biography of Unarius'', 1975</ref> Before meeting Ruth and the beginning of their mission, Ernest gave psychic readings at spiritualist churches.<ref name=T1995p86>Tumminia, Diana (1995) p86</ref>

Ruth was born in 1900 as the oldest of eight children. She took many jobs to support her family, such as being a fruit packer and a live-in maid. She gave birth to a daughter in her marriage.<ref>Tumminia, Diana (2005) pp163-4</ref> She purchased a motel, ran a restaurant, and worked at a cannery by the time she was 50 years old.

Both Ernest and Ruth had experiences in spiritualism before the UFO craze in the late 1940s.<ref name=zeller/><ref name=C2006p588>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Peter B. editor|title=Encyclopedia of new religious movements|date=2006|page=588}}</ref> By the early 1950s, mystics at a psychic convention she attended told her that she was being followed around by long-bearded wise men carrying books and that she would help bring in these books in her future. This same thing was told to Ernest by other mystics at the same convention before they met and later married. Books date their marriage to 1954, and their anniversary is celebrated by Unarius on February 14. Tumminia states that their union brought forth their "mission".<ref name=T2005p164/><ref name=T1995p86/>

Within weeks of their marriage, Ernest started writing the first Unarius book, ''The Voice of Venus''.<ref>Norman; ''Bridge to Heaven'', 1969</ref> Ruth was later known within the group as both "Ioshanna" (1972–1979) and "Uriel" (1980–1993).