Harold E. Puthoff | |
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Born | 20 June 1936 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Physicist and parapsychologist |
Known for | Gravitational and paranormal research |
Harold E. Puthoff (born June 20, 1936) is an American engineer and parapsychologist.
In 1967, Puthoff earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He then worked with, and invented, tunable lasers and electron beam devices, concerning which he holds patents, and he is co-author (with R. Pantell) of Fundamentals of Quantum Electronics (Wiley, 1969), published in English, French, Russian and Chinese. Puthoff published papers on polarizable vacuum (PV) and topics, which are examples of alternative approaches to general relativity and quantum mechanics.
Puthoff took an interest in the Church of Scientology in the late 1960s and reached what was then the top OT VII level by 1971. Puthoff wrote up his "wins" for a Scientology publication, claiming to have achieved "remote viewing" abilities. In 1974, Puthoff also wrote a piece for Scientology's Celebrity magazine, stating that Scientology had given him "a feeling of absolute fearlessness". Puthoff severed all connection with Scientology in the late 1970s.
In the 1970s and '80s Puthoff directed a CIA/DIA-funded program at SRI International to investigate paranormal abilities, collaborating with Russell Targ in a study of the purported psychic abilities of Uri Geller, Ingo Swann, Pat Price, Joseph McMoneagle and others, as part of the Stargate Project. Both Puthoff and Targ became convinced Geller and Swann had genuine psychic powers. However, Geller employed sleight of hand tricks.
In 1985, Puthoff founded a for-profit company, EarthTech International in Austin, TX. At about the same time, he founded an academically-oriented scientific research organization, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin (IASA), also in Austin, TX, where he is Director. Independent of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, IASA pursues more focused research on topics specifically related to energy generation and space propulsion, with funding from anonymous donors.