Person
Avi Loeb
Also known as Loeb
- Professor of Astrophysics, Harvard University; head of the Galileo Project
Avi Loeb is a Harvard astrophysicist who chaired the university's astronomy department from 2011 to 2020. He has become the leading academic voice for searching the sky for technological objects with open scientific instruments rather than relying on classified data or testimony.
He gained wide attention in 2018 by suggesting that ʻOumuamua, the first known interstellar object, might be a thin artificial light sail, based on its missing comet tail and unexplained push away from the sun. In 2021 he founded the Galileo Project, which runs multi-sensor observatories that watch the sky in infrared, optical, radio and audio, and which Garry Nolan joined. In 2023 he led an expedition off Papua New Guinea to recover spherules from the 2014 interstellar meteor, which he says include material unlike anything in the solar system. Both claims are contested by other astronomers.
At the May 2025 congressional briefing he urged a billion-dollar investment in AI analysis of sensor data. He also pushed back on Eric Davis's account of recovered craft, saying that without a theory of quantum gravity it is "speculation". In June 2026 he became chair of the UAP Science Advisory Council, formed at the White House's request to bring open science to the government's UAP data, and in October 2026 co-authored a paper finding that about 8% of the Pentagon's PURSUE sensor videos may show birds. His position is consistent: test claims with data, whichever way the answer falls.
Sources: May 1, 2025 congressional briefing · arXiv 2610.08692 and Medium (October 2026) · Lex Fridman #262 (Nolan) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- claimed Loeb told Congress in 2025 that the U.S. should “invest a billion dollars in figuring out what is in our sky”, using AI analysis of modern sensor data. — Avi Loeb Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 16:45
- claimed He described the Galileo Project's observatories, which watch the sky in infrared, optical, radio and audio and now triangulate objects, with sites in Pennsylvania and Nevada to follow. — Avi Loeb Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 25:57
- claimed On ʻOumuamua, the 2017 interstellar object, he cited its lack of a cometary tail, an excess push away from the sun and a likely flat shape, and said he had suggested it could be a thin object pushed by sunlight. — Avi Loeb Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 29:17
- claimed He described his Pacific expedition to the site of the 2014 interstellar meteor, whose origin he says U.S. Space Command confirmed: about 850 molten droplets were recovered, roughly 10% with compositions unlike solar-system material. — Avi Loeb Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 38:24
- claimed Responding to Eric Davis's account of how recovered craft fly, he said: “We don't have a reliable theory that combines the quantum gravity. So what we are hearing is speculation”, while offering to help if the government holds something scientists should study. — Avi Loeb Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 1:23:10
- claimed In June 2026 he announced that he would chair a new UAP Science Advisory Council, which Skeptic reported was formed at the request of the White House in coordination with AARO, the ODNI and the FBI, working only with unclassified data and reporting to an interagency UAP Governance Board. Source: skeptic.com (archived)
- claimed A paper he co-authored with Jacob Haqq-Misra and others found that the infrared dots in PURSUE video DOW-UAP-PR135 flicker at bird-wingbeat rates; an October 2026 supplement found bird candidates in about 8% of the PURSUE sensor videos. — Avi Loeb Source: avi-loeb.medium.com (archived)
- claimed Garry Nolan, who joined the Galileo Project, called Loeb's light-sail idea for ʻOumuamua “perfectly within the realm of possibility”. — Garry Nolan Source: Garry Nolan: UFOs and Aliens (Lex Fridman Podcast #262) at 1:29:40
Connected files
Books
- Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (authored)
- Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars (authored)
Claims
- The U.S. holds recovered craft of non-human origin and runs a secret program to reverse-engineer them (comments on claim)
News
- Avi Loeb wants sensors at the PURSUE sites where the triangle and the orbs were reported (appears in)
- Loeb's council: more than 8% of PURSUE sensor videos may show birds (appears in)
Organizations
- Galileo Project (Harvard) (led)
- UAP Science Advisory Council (chaired)
Hearings & briefings
People
- Garry Nolan (worked with) — Nolan joined the Galileo Project, which Loeb founded in 2021
- Eric Davis (disputes) — Loeb called Davis's account of how recovered craft fly “speculation” without a theory of quantum gravity
Programs
- PURSUE — Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (analysed) — His paper found likely birds in about 8% of PURSUE sensor videos
Videos
- Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) (speaks in)
- Christopher Mellon on the strongest evidence we are not alone (Unveiled clip, 2026) (discussed in)
- Avi Loeb on NewsNation's The Hill: the PURSUE triangle, and sensors at the sites (23 October 2026) (appears in)
- Garry Nolan: UFOs and Aliens (Lex Fridman Podcast #262) (discussed in)