Satinover was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 4, 1947, to Joseph and Sena Satinover. He lived in and around Chicago until moving to California at the beginning of his high school years. Satinover won a National Merit Scholarship. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971. He obtained a
Master of Education degree in Clinical Psychology and Public Practice from
Harvard University, a medical degree at the
University of Texas, and a
Master of Science in physics at
Yale University. He received a diploma in analytical psychology from the C. G. Jung Institute of Zürich, becoming their youngest graduate. He trained there and became an accredited Jungian analyst. He received a PhD in physics in the laboratory of
Didier Sornette at the University of Nice in France, in 2009. He married for the second time in 1982, having previously divorced and is the father of three daughters. in September 1991, during the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas, Satinover suggested during dinner conversation with President Bush's nephew that
Anita Hill, if suffering from
erotomania (a "
delusional disorder"), might be entirely convinced that Thomas had sexually harassed her, even if he had not, just as a witness for Thomas,
John Doggett (now a conservative commentator), claimed had happened with him. She would even pass a lie detector test, as Hill had, convinced of the truth of what she was saying. Soon Satinover and another psychiatrist,
Park Dietz were explaining this possibility to Thomas' Senate sponsor,
John Danforth, and White House press secretary, Larry Thomas, though as psychiatrists neither would testify about a patient they had not examined. (Psychiatrists brought in by the Democrats similarly refused to testify.) Satinover was quoted as stating that once he saw the testimony of one of Hill's main critics,
John Doggett, he concluded the idea was invalid. He has provided commentary for two documentary films,
What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004) and
What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole (2006). In 2008, he completed a Ph.D.
summa cum laude in physics at the
University of Nice, France. Satinover was distinguished visiting professor of Math and Science at
King's College, New York City, a private Christian college affiliated with
Campus Crusade for Christ. He also teaches at the
C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich. He is a visiting scientist at the Department of Management, Technology and Economics of the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He is managing director of Quintium Analytics, LLC, a proprietary investment advisory company he founded in 2007. Satinover was a member of the scientific advisory committee of the
National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. Satinover is Jewish, but says he has an eclectic worldview. ==Writing and research==