He was born in 1936 , in Germany . With Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert he was involved in a series of tests done at Harvard University , in the 1960s . Ralph Metzner Ph. D. ( born May 18 , 1936 in Germany ) , is an American psychologist , writer and researcher , who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert ( later named Ram Dass ) .