Marcel Vogel spent twenty-seven years as an IBM research scientist, holding over one hundred patents in fields like luminescence and magnetic recording. His deep background in materials science gave him a rigorous, hands-on appreciation for how physical structures store and transmit information. He was highly respected for his practical, corporate research before his work took a radical turn.

In the 1970s, Vogel shifted his attention to the relationship between quartz crystals, liquid water, and human consciousness. He hypothesized that because both water and quartz have highly structured molecular lattices, they could interact with subtle forces. Specifically, he began to view quartz as a transducer, which is a device that converts one form of energy into another, to amplify and focus human thoughts and mental intentions.