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Harvard University

Harvard University is a private research university whose faculty and affiliated researchers have studied alien abduction reports and unidentified anomalous phenomena, and with which the Galileo Project is associated.

Harvard University’s faculty and affiliated researchers have engaged with unidentified anomalous phenomena and adjacent fields across several disciplines, from astrophysics to psychiatry to psychical research. Among the most prominent was John Mack, described as a Harvard researcher¹ and a trained psychiatrist at the university who studied people reporting experiences with the phenomenon.² After Mack’s death, Ralph Blumenthal spent several years working on his biography.³

In 1996, Mack travelled to Australia Sydney to research the subject of alien abduction.⁴ David Charles Grusch has said that Mack concluded something real was occurring in the experiences reported by people who encountered the phenomenon, and that it was not a psychosomatic or mental health condition.⁵

Harvard was also the setting for a 2002-2003 debate that reignited the idea of psychological mechanisms as a possible explanation for alien abduction reports.⁶ Susan Clancy and Richard McNally were the key participants in that debate.⁷

Maxwell Frost has said that in 2021 Harvard stood up the Galileo Project to research and examine the origins of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).⁸ Luis Elizondo met with Harvard students participating in seminars run by the project, charged with mapping ways to investigate life in the universe.⁹

Harvard’s connection to aerospace-adjacent research reaches back further. Shortly before the Second World War, Vannevar Bush worked closely with Donald Menzel, then an astronomer at Harvard, on the development of the differential analyzer, described as the world’s first modern analogue computer.¹⁰ Writing in 1950, Bush recalled that Menzel was then an assistant or associate professor in Harvard’s astronomy department, interested in applying the machine to astronomical and astrophysical problems.¹¹ Menzel went on to serve as Carl Sagan’s mentor at Harvard.¹²

Other Harvard-affiliated figures span physics, parapsychology and psychology. Lisa Randall is a theoretical physicist at the university,¹³ Alan Gauld spent a postgraduate year there,¹⁴ and Rudy Schild is a retired tenured professor of astrophysics at Harvard.¹⁵ William James of Harvard is credited with “discovering” Leonora E. Piper for psychical research.¹⁶ Christopher Chabris is also affiliated with the university.¹⁷ According to a 2012 conference report on cultural and linguistic capabilities for counterinsurgency strategy, Sahana Dharmapuri was a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard.¹⁸

References (18)

John Mack described as a Harvard researcher
“An avid reader of science fiction, James picked up a book by Harvard researcher John Mack”
American Cosmic ch2:6709-6794
Mack was a trained psychiatrist at Harvard who studied people with experiences of the phenomenon
“it even goes back to the work of John Mack at Harvard who was a trained a psychiatrist looking at people that have had these experiences with the phenomenon.”
David Grusch: The Whistleblower Who Told Congress We're Not Alone 00:37:21.6-00:37:29.8
Ralph Blumenthal worked on a biography of the late John Mack
“For several years he had been quietly working on a biography of the late Dr. John Mack, a Harvard psychiatrist who treated and extensively interviewed UAP experiencers, who were often traumatized people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens, or at least encountered aliens in person.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs ch29:16543-16825 View the source record →
Mack visited Australia in 1996 to research alien abduction
“When Harvard psychiatrist John Mack visited Australia to research the subject of alien abduction in 1996,40 he took the opportunity to regress Peter to try to clarify the 1988 experience beyond the moment of blankness after the needle was inserted in his head.”
Hair of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence for Alien Abductions ch14:13541-13796
Grusch said Mack concluded something real was occurring and it was not psychosomatic
“And he deduced something is going on. This is not some, you know, psychosomatic thing or some mental health condition.”
David Grusch: The Whistleblower Who Told Congress We're Not Alone 00:37:30.6-00:37:38.2
2002-2003 Harvard research reignited psychological explanations for abduction reports
“During 2002 and 2003 research conducted at Harvard University reignited the idea of psychological mechanisms as a possible explanation for alien abduction reports.”
Hair of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence for Alien Abductions ch8:20086-20241
Clancy and McNally were the key players in the debate
“The key players in the debate were psychologists Susan Clancy and Richard McNally.”
Hair of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence for Alien Abductions ch8:20250-20324
Harvard stood up the Galileo Project in 2021 to research UAP origins
“Also, in 2021 Harvard University stood up the Galileo Project to research and examine the origins of UAP.”
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency char:87362-87463 View the source record →
Elizondo met with Harvard students in Galileo Project seminars
“I met with Harvard University students participating in seminars at the Galileo Project, which is charged with mapping ways to investigate life in the universe.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs ch31:37840-37991 View the source record →
Bush worked with Menzel on the differential analyzer
“Shortly before the war, Bush was also working closely with Dr. Donald Menzel, an astronomer at Harvard University, on the development of a "differential analyzer"—the world's first (modern) analog computer.”
Dark Mission ch12:68352-68549
Bush recalled Menzel's position in Harvard's astronomy department
“Dr. M., who was then an assistant or associate professor in the astronomy department of Harvard University, was much interested in the possibility of applying the differential analyzer to the solution of certain astronomical and astrophysical problems.”
Dark Mission ch12:68976-69219
Menzel served as Carl Sagan's mentor at Harvard
“Menzel, who served as Dr. Carl Sagan's mentor at Harvard, was essentially the Carl Sagan of his day”
Dark Mission ch12:71270-71366
Lisa Randall is a theoretical physicist at Harvard
“Lisa Randall, theoretical physicist from Harvard University”
Surviving Death ch20:26377-26426
Alan Gauld spent a postgraduate year at Harvard
“He spent a postgraduate year at Harvard and then he principally taught biological psychology and neuropsychology at Nottingham.”
Surviving Death ch28:1578-1694
Rudy Schild is a retired tenured professor of astrophysics at Harvard
“and a retired tenured professor of astrophysics at Harvard University,”
American Cosmic ch6:22040-22099
William James of Harvard discovered Leonora E. Piper for psychical research
“Mrs. Piper was “discovered” for psychical research by William James of Harvard University, arguably the greatest psychologist of that or perhaps any time.”
Surviving Death ch28:6187-6336
Christopher Chabris is affiliated with Harvard University
“Christopher Chabris of Harvard University”
American Cosmic ch2:53917-53948
Dharmapuri was a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard
“Sahana Dharmapuri, Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Harvard University”
Conference Report: Cultural and Linguistic Advancement for Mission Success: Enhancing Language, Regional and Cultural Capabilities Across Whole of Government for an Effective COIN Strategy char:27242-27317

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