Truth & Fiction: Education
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L.R. Hubbard attended Swaveley Prep. School, Manassas, Virginia and Woodward Prep. School, Washington DC, USA and Columbia College, George Washington University, Washington DC in 1932.
Source: 'A Report to Members of Parliament on Scientology' (Church of Scientology, 1969)A (rare) undisputed statement of fact.
Corroboration: Hubbard college records
Bare-Faced Messiah (Russell Miller, 1987)
Enrolled in one of USA's first ever nuclear physics courses.
Source: 'What Is Scientology?' (Church of Scientology, 1978, 1992)
An oft-repeated claim, which Hubbard used to back up his frequent descriptions of himself as "a nuclear physicist" (which reached its nadir with the publication of the ridiculous All About Radiation). In fact, he studied civil engineering, which included as one of its modules a short course on molecular and atomic physics in 1932. Coming ten years before the building of the first atomic pile, this was very different from a post-war course on atomic physics. Furthermore, his grades were appalling: he only gained an F, and dropped out before he finished any of his university courses. Note that Scientology claims only that he started at university, not that he graduated. (This did not stop him from buying a bogus degree from "Sequoia University" in the 1960s).
Corroboration: Hubbard college records
Bare-Faced Messiah (Russell Miller, 1987)
Attended Princeton University.
Source: 'A Report to Members of Parliament on Scientology' (Church of Scientology, 1969)Again, not true: for four months from October 1944, Hubbard attended a course on 'Military Government' given by the US Navy on the Princeton campus - a very different thing from attending the university itself.
Corroboration: Hubbard US Navy record
Bare-Faced Messiah (Russell Miller, 1987)
