Early Promotion for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics

1950 was the year when L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics was first published. Dianetics was heavily promoted in the pages of Astounding Science Fiction, edited by John W. Campbell, Jr., a magazine that was central to the so-called "Golden Age" (late 1930s through the 1950s) of the science fiction genre in the United States.

Campbell enthusiastically embraced Dianetics, later reversing his position in 1951. Using the concepts begun with Dianetics Hubbard would go on to found the Church of Scientology in 1953.

Reproduced below are pages from issues of Astounding Science Fiction from the year 1950. Click on the pictures for bigger, more readable images.

L. Ron Hubbard's "To The Stars" on the cover
of Astounding Science Fiction, February 1950.

Astounding Science Fiction, August 1950.
Back page advertisement for Dianetics.

"This book reveals the results of fifteen years of study and research on the working of the human mind. Tackling the problem by the scientific method, the author has discovered what he believes to be the source of all mental and psychosomatic ills, and has developed a technique of Dianetic Therapy that has work successfully for everyone one of the two hundred and seventy unselected cases treated and tested."

Astounding Science Fiction, November 1950.
Back page advertisement.

"The Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation has established Departments in several cities; further Departments are scheduled to open soon." Addresses are listed in New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Astounding Science Fiction, November 1950.
Subscription advertisement inside front cover. 

"DIANETICS started in Astounding SCIENCE FICTION. It is not the first, nor will it be the last time, Astounding SCIENCE FICTION precedes science generally." Indeed. Cost of a one-year subscription to Astounding: $2.50.

Astounding Science Fiction, September 1950.
Back page advertisement.

"Successfully Treat Complex, Obscure Symptoms" sounds like it would make a good t-shirt slogan.