Dr. Avi Loeb – Harvard Professor, Astronomer
The Conventional Life
Avi Loeb (born February 26, 1962 in Beit Hanan, Israel) is an Israeli‑American theoretical physicist working in cosmology and astrophysics. He did his PhD at Hebrew University (1986) and went on to IAS Princeton. In 1993 he joined Harvard’s astronomy department, got tenure in three years, chaired it 2011–2020, directs Harvard’s Institute for Theory and Computation since 2007, and founded the Black Hole Initiative in 2016. He’s taught, published over 1,000 papers, written textbooks and popular books like Extraterrestrial (2021) and Interstellar (published August 29, 2023) (Medium).
He’s a Fellow of the AAAS, APS, International Academy of Astronautics, served on the National Academies BPA and President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST).
The UFO & Alien Tech Stuff
3I/ATLAS Interstellar Object
Dr. Loeb has been very vocal about the possibility that this interstellar object could potentially be not a comet at all, but a technological object from another intelligence. Here is the Overview of this object and Dr. Loeb’s ideas.
‘Oumuamua (2017 object #1)
Loeb was first mainstream-public in late 2017 when ʻOumuamua showed weird non‑gravitational acceleration despite no visible outgassing. Loeb speculated it might be an alien solar sail or probe, triggering hot debate.
Interstellar meteor IM1 (2014 event)
Loeb and graduate student Amir Siraj claimed in 2019 that a meteor (CNEOS 2014‑01‑08) came from outside the solar system, and in 2023 he led ocean expeditions that supposedly recovered magnetic spherules from the Pacific that might be alien-made. Critics shot back that the seismic signal was likely a passing truck and that the material was consistent with coal ash or terrestrial contamination. Several astrophysicists now refuse to peer‑review his work, calling it sensational.
Galileo Project
In July 2021 Loeb launched the Galileo Project—a scientific effort to systematically search for physical evidence of extraterrestrial technology in UAPs, interstellar objects, even objects in Earth orbit, using new sensors & telescopes under open‑data methods. He estimates fully funding it needs about US $100 million—mostly from donors, not taxpayer grants—and has raised a few million so far (TED). Here is ArXiv.org where he publishes his papers – Abraham Loeb.
The Three Recently Interstellar Visitors
So far the solar system has had three confirmed interstellar visitors:
Before 2017 none had ever been detected.
Loeb wasted no time speculating that 3I/ATLAS (#3) could be alien tech. He published posts (e.g. Preliminary Anomalies of 3I/ATLAS and Did it Go Viral?) arguing the object is anomalously bright (implying ~20 km diameter), on a retrograde, Earth‑plane orbit with improbably close passes to Venus, Mars and Jupiter—suggesting possible design. He then co‑authored a paper “Is the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology?” describing it as a pedagogical exercise though “the most likely outcome… is it’s a natural comet” (Futurism, Medium).
His team warns it could even be hostile and operate under a “dark forest” hypothesis, though critics say there’s no evidence and call the speculation “nonsense on stilts” (Medium).
What Avi Loeb Is Doing Now
He’s still at Harvard as the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science and directs his institutes there; hasn’t left Harvard. He’s working on building space‑based telescopes to detect many more interstellar objects (~10 m size) and characterizing them via thermal/spectroscopic observations (paper Feb 2025) (arXiv).
His 100 million funding figure is Loeb’s stated target to fully staff and deploy Galileo Project instruments, sensors, telescopes, maybe even a mission. So far funding is via donations, not direct Harvard or big grant. He’s spending it on a telescope at Harvard Observatory roof and building networked devices, ML classification systems, radar, satellites.
Personal Life & Hobbies
Loeb doesn’t publicly talk much about marriage, kids, hobbies. Born on an Israeli farm and raised reading philosophy (Sartre, Camus) while driving tractors on weekends — that’s about as personal as the public record gets (afhu.org, Medium). No reliably cited info on spouse or children.
Major Statements & Academic Pushback (last 5 years)
- He’s published Extraterrestrial (2021) and Interstellar (2023), urging humanity to treat ET detection as serious science.
- Spearheaded Galileo Project starting 2021 to use hard data rather than just UFO anecdotes (arXiv).
- Claimed in 2023 meteor fragments from CNEOS 2014‑01‑08 are alien-made—drawing harsh criticism over data base selection and faulty seismic link.
- In 2025 he pushed two papers: one on using dedicated telescopes to catalog interstellar objects; second on mass‑density limits of UFOs (Dec 2024) (arXiv).
- In July 2025, published multiple pieces arguing 3I/ATLAS is anomalous and possibly artificial—and called out suppression by journal editors/Wikipedia as bias against paradigm‑breaking ideas (Medium).
- Many colleagues at Harvard and beyond refuse to collaborate or peer‑review his alien‑tech papers, calling them sensational, misleading, and a distraction from mainstream space science.
Quick Recap
- What is Avi Loeb known for? Stellar cosmologist turned the most visible scientist‑aliens skeptic turned alien‑tech proponent.
- Three interstellar objects seen so far: ‘Oumuamua (2017), Borisov (2019), and now 3I/ATLAS (July 1 2025). Loeb has speculated all three may hide alien tech features.
- Harvard role: still there, runs theory institute, Galileo Project, Baird Chair.
- $100 million figure: what he says the Galileo Project needs for full global sensor deployment and dedicated telescopes.
- Controversies: seismic‑sensor misidentification, peer‑review refusals, eyebrow raising headlines, and academic criticism.
- Personal life: minimal public info beyond his Israeli farm upbringing and love of existential philosophers.
And to wrap it all up, here’s a recent youtube dive into the Dark Forest scenario with Dr. Avi Loeb:
ATLAS Is ALIEN Technology? (The Dark Forest Mystery ft. Avi Loeb)