Personal details
Born:
- Birthday: 1936-06-20
Also Known As:
Hal E. Puthoff, Hal Puthoff, Hall Puthoff, Ph.D.
Harold E. Puthoff
Harold E. Puthoff is an American electrical engineer, physicist, and parapsychology researcher best known for his long and often controversial involvement in government-funded programs investigating psychic phenomena and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs). Born in 1936, Puthoff earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1967 and began his career in the 1970s at SRI International, where he co-founded the highly classified and controversial "remote viewing" program—an effort funded by the CIA and DIA to assess the military applications of psychic abilities—collaborating with figures like Russell Targ and Uri Geller. After leaving SRI, he co-founded the Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin (IASA) and now serves as Director of its EarthTech International division, focusing on speculative research into topics like zero-point energy and advanced propulsion concepts. In the realm of UAPs, Puthoff was a key contractor and researcher for the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) and the subsequent Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) from 2007 to 2012, and he also led the scientific team investigating phenomena at Skinwalker Ranch under funding from Robert Bigelow. His career is characterized by his unique position straddling conventional science and defense intelligence with serious investigations into frontier, non-traditional physics and phenomena.
