Hal Puthoff
In the 1970s and 1980s, Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ led research at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) on paranormal abilities, notably studying Uri Geller and Ingo Swann as part of the Stargate Project.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Harold Puthoff, alongside Russell Targ, conducted research at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to investigate paranormal abilities as part of the Stargate Project. Their studies focused on the purported psychic powers of individuals like Uri Geller, Ingo Swann, and others. Despite declaring Geller had psychic powers, it was later revealed that Geller used sleight of hand tricks, and there were significant flaws in the experimental controls. Psychologist Terence Hines criticized the chaotic nature of the tests, stating that Geller manipulated the testing conditions and the results were misreported.
Psychologists David Marks and Richard Kammann attempted to replicate Puthoff and Targ's remote viewing experiments but failed. They found that the notes given to judges contained cues that inadvertently influenced the experiment's outcomes, such as references to previous sessions or dates. When these clues were removed, the results fell to chance levels. Marks and Kammann requested the original transcripts from Puthoff and Targ for independent examination, but they were denied. However, they obtained the transcripts from a judge and discovered numerous cues.
Further controlled tests by other researchers, including James Randi, also produced negative results when eliminating these cues. Marks and Kammann concluded that remote viewing remains an unproven hypothesis until proper sensory cueing is prevented. Martin Gardner commented that Puthoff and Targ were outwitted by the "psychics" they studied, who were more skillful than the researchers realized.
