Born a child prodigy in electronics, Patrick Flanagan could read before he could talk. When he was 8 years old, he had a series of recurring nightmares that would only go away when he spent all his time reading and learning. In 1952, he became a General Class Ham Radio Operator, W0PXD in North Dakota and designed and hand built all of his radio equipment. At 13, he invented the Neurophone, a device that by-passes the 8th cranial hearing nerve and transmits sound into long term memory centers of the brain through a "dormant" amphibian/reptillian hearing organ which was previously thought to be an organ of balance, the saccule. The saccule has since been shown to be an ultrasonic hearing organ that detects ultrasonic sound only if the sound is transmitted through the tissues and bones of the body.
In 1962, Life Magazine picked Flanagan as one of the top ten most promising upcoming scientists in the world. Soon after, he was awarded the Gold Plate Award by the American Academy of Achievement along with Dr. Edward Teller, Nobel winner Murray Gel-Mann and a host of other luminaries. He met and became close friends with Admiral "Red" Rayborn the creator of the Polaris Submarine and then director of the CIA, later transferring to NSA.