b. 1960 · A portrait
A child psychiatrist took over a decades-long research program on children's reported memories of a previous life, adding statistical scoring and new American cases. He retired as its director in 2025.
The line above is how his claims were received — by the scientists whose job was to doubt them. It rises as a claim is tested and accepted, and the room brightens with it. It is not a verdict on truth: some accepted ideas are later overturned, and some rejected ones come back. A hollow point is a claim still open.
He worked alongside Ian Stevenson on case investigations through the late 1990s, then took over the children's case research when Stevenson retired in 2002, building a numerical scoring system to compare cases.
He presented a Louisiana boy who, from about age two, described a fatal World War II plane crash with details matching a real pilot, as one of the strongest American cases in the field's collection.
Philosopher Michael Sudduth re-examined the case and argued in the Journal of Scientific Exploration that it rested almost entirely on the parents' testimony, leaving out the boy's exposure to ordinary sources; Tucker's 2022 reply called the critique a distortion, and the case remains disputed.
He directed the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies from 2014 until retiring on January 1, 2025; the program continues under new leadership. The strongest case in his collection remains disputed rather than settled.