As a 19-year-old, Robert Shafran attended the new college for the first time in 1980.People around him behaved strangely, called him by a different name, and acted as if they had known each other for a long time.
Robert was surprised to learn that he has two more twin brothers on the same day. Early in their lives, they were separated.It turned out that all three had participated in a special experiment as well.Students took Robert to his twin on that day in college. They both grew up in foster families and were like two peas in a pod. Edward Gallan was Robert’s brother.David Kellman, a student at another college, saw a story about the twins’ reunion on TV and was also shocked: Robert and Edward resembled him exactly.
As it turned out, their adoptive parents were unaware of the existence of other brothers until they met. Each family had only one twin. Families lived at least 150 kilometers apart.When the brothers were children, their adoptive parents began investigating why they were separated. After meeting with authorities, they learned about the strange experiment.Peter Neubauer, a famous child psychologist, was researching how the environment influences character development.As he placed the twins in different families, he checked which traits would be inherited and which ones would be acquired.
In David’s case, he was born into a working class family. Edward lived in an average-income house. An influential businessman adopted Robert, making him the luckiest of all.For at least ten years, Neubauer continued his research.Fame and money followed the twins’ reunion. In general, the brothers were fairly successful and starred in a couple of films.In the end, Neubauer’s experiment was declared unethical. The final results are still classified.
