The Foundation Endeavors to:

Discover the causes and conditions for already observed and cataloged cyclic and rhythmic behaviors.

Classify discovered causes and conditions with the physical sciences.

Incorporate these causes and conditions into the mainstream of modern scientific theory and knowledge.

Cycles are meaningful, and all science that has been developed in the absence of cycle knowledge is inadequate and partial. ...any theory of economics, sociology, history, medicine, or climatology that ignores non-chance rhythms is as manifestly incomplete as medicine was before the discovery of germs.

Edward Russell Dewey (1895-1978) was a Harvard economist who had identified a number of
cycles in the U.S. economy.

In 1931 the Department of Commerce assigned Edward Dewey the task of discovering the cause and underlying dynamics of the Great Depression. As Chief Economic Analyst for the Department, Dewey had unprecedented access to resources and information. Dewey's work on understanding the Great Depression led him to his lifelong calling in cycles. He combined his enormous research in business cycles with research from leading biologists on cycles in nature and in wildlife. Dewey was astonished to discover that:

Cycles of identical length were found in both disciplines
Similar cycles from different areas reached their peaks and troughs at the same time.

In 1940, Edward R. Dewey learned of a 1931 Canadian conference on biological cycles. Under the guidance of Dewey and the conference leader, Copley Amory, the conference’s Permanent Committee was reorganized into the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, and its scope was enlarged to encompass all disciplines.

Although Dewey’s work was generally regarded as inconsistent with mainstream economists, his research has held great credibility amongst those searching for a new paradigm to understand the inter-relationship of all of life.

In 1941, the Foundation was incorporated with nonprofit status. It became a membership organization in 1943 to allow individuals to become affiliated with its research projects. In 1987, the Foundation’s world headquarters were relocated from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Irvine, California.

In 1995 the Foundation launched the Market Research Institute with a generous startup grant from The Tudor Group in New York. This Institute strives to isolate dominant cycles in economic time series, specifically the financial and investment markets. Composites of significant cycles are synthesized, projected into the future, and their performances tracked, with an emphasis on market timing.

In 2006, the Foundation’s permanent offices were opened in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today, the Foundation has more than 2,500 members in 42 countries.

Cycles Research Network (CRN) Debuts Online (NEW!) See what users have done with TechSignal

TechSignal eliminates the otherwise tedious process of manual cycle analysis, which, in the early days of Foundation research, would have taken several people as much as nine months to perform on a single data series.

Foundation Activities

The Foundation serves as a clearinghouse for the research of scholars and scientists, as well as nonprofessional investigators in cyclic behavior. The Foundation’s principle activities lie in three areas:

Original Research
The Foundation’s research program aims to isolate, record, classify, catalog, compare, project, and monitor significant cycles in time series data with the use of computer analysis and the latest statistical techniques. Results are regularly reported in Cycles Magazine, and occasionally are issued separately as special reports. The Foundation also updates past analyses using current data.

Data Collection
The most extensive selection of unique computerized statistical data found anywhere in the world is maintained by the Foundation. Many series are exclusive to the Foundation, which is continually enlarging its database of statistical series. The Foundation’s “catalog” of more than 4,300 definitive cycles, recorded by length and by discipline, is updated regularly.

Communication and Education
Cycles Magazine (ISSN 0011-4294) has been published continuously since June of 1950 to disseminate the Foundation’s research to its members. The Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research, published since 1970, provides a forum for more technical papers. The Foundation also maintains an extensive catalog of publications on cycles and related subjects that are available for purchase.

Why Study Cycles?

A cycle is a rhythmic fluctuation that repeats over time with reasonable regularity. When it is sufficiently regular and persists over a long enough span of time, it cannot reasonably be the result of chance. And the longer a non-chance rhythm continues, the more predictable it becomes.

This theory can be applied to any life form to understand its nature and its predictable behaviors.

The following principles of cyclic behavior have been developed at the Foundation:

Rhythmic cycles are a characteristic of more than 500 different phenomena.

Cycles persist without change of period for as far back as there are data. After distortion, cycles will revert to the pre-distortion pattern.

Cycles of any period tend to have counterparts in other phenomena, and even in other disciplines.

Timing of cycles suggests a geographical pattern, regardless of phenomena.

Cycles of the same period tend to synchronize, or crest at the same calendar time, regardless of phenomena.

These factors suggest that the natural world is subject to powerful forces that trigger fluctuations in various phenomena. An identical rhythm in different phenomena implies an interrelationship, or common cause. The knowledge of predictable, repetitive patterns is a valuable tool in the scientific projection of many different phenomena.

Join the Foundation

While cycles have an ancient history, the science of studying modern financial cycles began over a hundred and fifty years ago in the early 19th century. However, serious study of financial cycles did not begin until after the American stock market crash of 1929.

Currently, the Foundation is applying its knowledge and database to the study of other natural cycles that will alter how the world perceives its own universe.

Everyone who is interested in understanding the cyclical nature of life is invited to join the Foundation for the Study of cycles and contribute to the well being of humankind.

  NATURAL SCIENCE

ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

• Auroras, comets, meteor showers
• Planets, satellites, asteroids
• Rotation of galaxies
• Sunspots and other solar phenomena
• Variable stars

BIOLOGY

• Abundance and activity of bacteria in human beings
• Bacteriology
• Hormone Cycles

BOTANY

• Abundance of crops, plants, seeds, and algae
• Assimilation and photosynthesis
• Concentration of growth substances
• Electrical conductivity of sap
• Electrical excitability of mimosa
• Electrical potential of trees
• Fiber and individual organ growth
• Nectar production and sugar content
• Photoperiodicity
• Thickness of tree rings

ENTOMOLOGY

• Abundance and activity of insects
• Feeding, hatching, and migration
• Pigment changes of certain insects

HERPETOLOGY

• Abundance of snakes and amphibians
• Activity of lizards and salamanders
• Pigment changes in salamanders

ICHTHYOLOGY & LIMNOLOGY

• Abundance of algae, plankton, and fish
• Egg cycle of various fish
• Migrations                                    .

INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY

• Abundance of various invertebrates
• Body temperature and metabolic rate
• Contraction waves in worms                
• Germ cell maturation
• Light production and photic responses
• Migration of various invertebrates
• Surface color and pigment changes

MAMMALOGY

• Abundance and activity of various mammals
• Fur production
• Physical cycles and activity-rest periods
• Variations in milk production  

ORNITHOLOGY

• Abundance of various birds
• Metabolic  activity      
• Migration
• Wing beats of various birds

CLIMATOLOGY

• Air movements and wind direction
• Barometric pressure and temperature
• Glacial movements
• Ozone content of the atmosphere
• Precipitation, including abnormalities
• Storm tracts

GEOLOGY

• Earthquakes, geysers, volcanic eruptions
• Encrustations of archaeological artifacts
• Geologic epochs and periods
• Sedimentary deposits, varves, seiches
• Soil erosion
• Thickness of rock strata

GEOPHYSICS (also see Climatology)

• Radio propagation quality
• Terrestrial magnetism

HYDROLOGY AND  HYDROGRAPHICS

• Lake, river, and sea levels
• Ocean currents, temperature, and waves
• River flow and run-off
• Tides

MEDICINE

• Abundance of disease organisms & parasitic worms
• Births and mortalities
• Blood pressure and blood-sugar content
• Body temperature and metabolism
• Electrical skin resistance                          
• Emotions and mental activity
• Endocrine and glandular secretions
• Epidemics and pandemics
• Fevers and after-shock
• Incidence of diseases and disorders
• Muscular, nervous, and sexual activity
• Plasma chemistry variations
• Psychiatric abnormalities
• Respiration and visceral activities
• Teeth sensitivity
• Veterinary diseases

PHYSICS

• Activity of electrons and molecular vibrations
• Electromagnetic waves and flux
• Radio and sound waves

 SOCIAL SCIENCE

ECONOMICS

• Advertising efficiency
• Agricultural production
• Building and real estate activity
• Commodity prices
• Financial data
• General business activity
• Imports, exports, trade activity
• Production, consumption, sales
• Purchasing power
• Transportation                     
• Wage earner activity

SOCIOLOGY

• Civil and international war battles
• Creativity and inventiveness
• Crime
• Cultures and civilizations
• Fashion
• Human ability, excitability, output
• Insanity
• Intellectual interest
• Liberalism versus conservatism 
• Marriages and births
• Military-political activity
• Periods of emotional excitement      
• Population
• Religious and scientific activity
• Strikes and unemployment