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Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a bestselling author (in lists of the New York Times,Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, L'Express and more).
He received a PhD in Physics from
the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem in Israel at age 24 (1980-1986),
led the first international project supported by
the Strategic
Defense Initiative (1983-1988), and was subsequently a
long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton
(1988-1993). Loeb has written 8 books, including most recently, Extraterrestrial (HarperCollins, 2022) and Interstellar (HarperCollins, 2023) and nearly a thousand papers (with
h-index
of 123 and i10-index of 562) on a wide range of topics, including
black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and
the future of the Universe.
Loeb is the Director of
the Institute for Theory and Computation (2007-present)
within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
, and also serves as the Head of
the Galileo Project (2021-present).
He had been the
longest serving Chair of Harvard's
Department of Astronomy (2011-2020) and the Founding Director of
Harvard's Black
Hole Initiative (2016-2021).
He is
an elected fellow of
the American
Academy of Arts & Sciences,
the American
Physical Society, and
the International Academy of
Astronautics. Loeb is a former member of the
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the White House, a former chair of
the Board
on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies (2018-2021) and
a current member of the Advisory Board for "Einstein: Visualize
the Impossible" of the Hebrew University.
He also chairs the Advisory Committee for
the Breakthrough
Starshot Initiative (2016-present) and serves as the Science Theory Director
for
all Initiatives
of the Breakthrough Prize
Foundation. In
2012, TIME
magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in
space and in 2020
Loeb was
selected among the 14 most inspiring Israelis of the last
decade. Click here
for Loeb's commentaries.
Staff Assistant:
ITC Administrator:
BHI Administrator:
Theory Div. Admin.:
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*Extraterrestrial: 28 editions in 25 languages worldwide (2021).
*Extraterrestrial summary, HMH (2021).
IN THE NEWS:
*An Interstellar Twist to Human History (June 4, 2023).
*Breaking News: We Are Not the Smartest! (June 2, 2023).
*NASA, AARO and the Galileo Project Agree on the Need for a Scientific Study of UAP (May 31, 2023).
*Self-Replicating Machines (May 29, 2023).
*The Search for Extraterrestrials May inspire an Uplifting Future for Humanity (May 27, 2023).
*Nature Made It Difficult to Weaponize Black Holes (May 26, 2023).
*Ideas Are Not Good Enough Without Good Data (May 24, 2023).
*Nothing Lasts Forever (May 22, 2023).
*The Horizon for Intergalactic Travel (May 20, 2023).
*2023 Cosmos Award (May 20, 2023).
*A Log of Our Exponential History (May 18, 2023).
*Is Spacetime Continuous or Discrete? (May 16, 2023).
*Will Your Home Be Hit by a Meteorite? (May 15, 2023).
*On the Benefits of Systematic Versus Anecdotal Evidence (May 12, 2023).
*Would you Press a Button on an Extraterrestrial Gadget? (May 11, 2023).
*Interstellar Diary (May 10, 2023).
*Chasing `Oumuamua (May 8, 2023).
*Space Trash in Our Cosmic Neighborhood (May 7, 2023).
*A Play About Life Beyond Earth (May 5, 2023).
*Follow the Extraterrestrial Water (May 4, 2023).
*Training AI on Desired Content (May 2, 2023).
*The Cosmic Distribution of Love (May 1, 2023).
*Our Survival in the Milky Way (April 29, 2023).
*A Blind Date with Interstellar Matter (April 27, 2023).
*The Density of What Matters in the Universe (April 26, 2023).
*AI Alignment Resembles Helicopter Parenting (April 24, 2023).
*Water as Rocket Fuel on the Moon or Mars (April 24, 2023).
*The State of the Universe (April 23, 2023).
*Elon Musk is Wrong About Aliens! (April 21, 2023).
*Fellows of the Galileo Project (April 21, 2023).
*Afterthoughts on the Second UAP Senate Hearing (April 19, 2023).
*The Shots Heard Round the World (April 18, 2023).
*Tracking Extraterrestrial Packages with AI (April 16, 2023).
*Alien Mothership, Politico (April 14, 2023).
*Reflections of a Farm Boy: "From Farm to Table" Science (April 14, 2023).
*Philanthropy by Inspiration (April 12, 2023).
*Extraterrestrials Offer Benefits, Not An Existential Risk (April 10, 2023).
*On the Virtue of Real Action in Place of `Virtue Signaling' (April 9, 2023).
*Planetary Defense Warning Stations (April 8, 2023).
*The New Society of AI (April 6, 2023).
*The Cosmos is Different from Our Backyard (April 4, 2023).
*Overcoming Our Auriga Moments (April 2, 2023).
*Will Future AI Systems be Legally Liable? (March 31, 2023).
*Dating Interstellar Objects with the Webb Space Telescope (March 30, 2023).
*Extraordinary Evidence Requires Extraordinary Funding (March 29, 2023).
*What is the Proper Pronoun for GPT-4? (March 27, 2023).
*The Simplicity of Telling the Truth (March 25, 2023).
*`Oumuamua Was Not a Hydrogen-Water Iceberg (March 23, 2023).
*Is `Oumuamua a Hydrogen-Water Iceberg? (March 22, 2023).
*Exotic Propulsion (March 21, 2023).
*2084 (March 19, 2023).
*Open-Minded AI (March 17, 2023).
*Science is an Infinite Box of Chocolates (March 15, 2023).
*Interstellar Interpretation of Plato's Cave Allegory (March 13, 2023).
*How to Navigate Academia (March 11, 2023).
*A Gift from a Silver Star (March 9, 2023).
*Keep the Branch We Are Sitting On! (March 8, 2023).
*Physics of the Phenomenon, Podcast with Micah Hanks (March 6, 2023).
*Separating Science from Fiction (March 5, 2023).
*Distinguishing Ourselves from Nature (March 4, 2023).
*Do Technological Civilizations Self-Destruct or Self-Replicate? (March 2, 2023).
*Herlinde Koelbl's Fascination With Scientists (February 28, 2023).
*Wishing All of Us a Better Future (February 26, 2023).
*Q&A About Black Holes, Harvard Gazette (February 25, 2023).
*Loving Reality Without Makeup (February 25, 2023).
*Can A.I. Reproduce Human Creativity? (February 22, 2023).
*City Lights in Our Sky and Plastic in Our Oceans (February 21, 2023).
*Wishing to Be a Museum Item on An Exoplanet (February 19, 2023).
*Interstellar Romance (February 18, 2023).
*Balloons or Extraterrestrial Devices? (February 15, 2023).
*Could the Biggest Blunder of Fundamental Physics Be Resolved? (February 11, 2023).
*Past and Future Life in Martian Lava Tubes (February 9, 2023).
*Science Is Better Than Politics (February 7, 2023).
*The Existential risk from Fast Bullets During Interstellar Travel (February 5, 2023).
*What Would Have Happened to the Dinosaurs if the Chicxulub Impactor Was a Black Hole? (February 4, 2023).
*Thermonuclear Explosions on Proxima b Are Detectable by JWST (February 3, 2023).
*Searching Around the Milky Way for Partners (February 2, 2023).
*Observing Earth With Love (January 31, 2023).
*Interstellar Objects from Broken Dyson Spheres (January 29, 2023).
*We Are Going to Visit the First Interstellar Meteor (January 27, 2023).
*What Constitutes a Miracle? (January 24, 2023).
*Imagine Interstellar (January 22, 2023).
*Trading Disruptive Science for Imagined Realities (January 20, 2023).
*Thirty Years at Harvard University (January 18, 2023).
*Finding Meaning in a Multi Star Family (January 17, 2023).
*Planck Energy Accelerators (January 16, 2023).
*Intergalactic Travel At No Cost (January 14, 2023).
*Thoughts on the 2022 ODNI UAP Report (January 12, 2023).
*The Most Fantastic Spacecraft Ever Imagined (January 11, 2023).
*The Pleasure of Figuring Out the Location of the First Interstellar Meteor (January 9, 2023).
*The Most Interesting Signals Starts in the Noise (January 8, 2023).
*Should We develop an ET Encounter Manual? (January 6, 2023).
*The Claustrophobia of a Closed Universe (January 4, 2023).
*The Unexplored Dimension of the Universe (January 3, 2023).
*The Siraj & Loeb discovery of first interstellar meteor
was named to CNN's list of 2022's extraordinary cosmic revelations and moments in space exploration
(December 27, 2022).
*The Writing on Our Tombstone (December 31, 2022).
*Was Earth's Surface Ever Completely Frozen? (December 29, 2022).
*Beliefs Versus Evidence in Science and Beyond (December 28, 2022).
*Was Earth Terraformed by Martians? (December 26, 2022).
*No High-Rise Left Standing on Early Mars or Earth (December 25, 2022).
*Seeking Immortality in Space (December 23, 2022).
*Extraterrestrial Heaven: Innovation With No Bureaucracy (December 21, 2022).
*The Next Copernican Revolution (December 20, 2022).
*Our Interstellar Blessing: Live Long and Prosper! (December 19, 2022).
*Interplanetary Soccer on Mars (December 18, 2022).
*Allowing for the Unexpected in an Interstellar Date (December 16, 2022).
*Imaging Hell at High Resolution (December 15, 2022).
*Creating a Transient Star in the Laboratory (December 13, 2022).
*Is Ceres Our Third Hub After the Moon and Mars? (December 12, 2022).
*Why Is Science Important? (December 11, 2022).
*A Million CubeSats in Our Backyard (December 10, 2022).
*The Sky's the Limit on the Speed of Light (December 8, 2022).
*Questions of Life and Death (December 7, 2022).
*Is it Possible to Communicate with Gravitational Waves? (December 6, 2022).
*Cast Your Craft Upon Interstellar Waters (December 5, 2022).
*What Makes the Life of a Physicist Meaningful (December 3, 2022).
*Was Terrestrial Life Seeded by a Gardener (December 2, 2022).
*Life on Titan May Signal Early Life in the Universe (November 30, 2022).
*Collecting Fragments from the First Interstellar Meteor (November 28, 2022).
*Confluence of Natural and Artificial Intelligences (November 28, 2022).
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