Russell Targ
Summary
Russell Targ is an American physicist and laser pioneer who, with Hal_Puthoff, co-founded the remote-viewing research programme at SRI International in the 1970s. Their work led directly to the long-running US intelligence-community remote-viewing programmes (Project Star Gate and predecessors). Targ has continued public advocacy for parapsychological research since leaving SRI.
Life
Targ trained in physics at Queens College and Columbia University. He worked as a laser physicist at Sperry Gyroscope and then at Lockheed (1972-1985), where he made significant contributions to gas-laser technology — work for which he holds multiple patents and which is the foundation of his mainstream scientific reputation. In parallel, from 1972 onwards he co-founded the SRI remote-viewing programme with Puthoff.
After leaving SRI he founded Delphi Associates (a remote-viewing-based investment-prediction company, 1982-1985) and then returned to laser physics at Lockheed. He continues to write and lecture.
Key Contributions
Laser physics
Targ is a recognised pioneer of gas-laser technology, particularly tunable lasers used in atmospheric remote sensing. He holds multiple patents and authored a mainstream physics textbook on laser remote sensing (Laser Window and Dome Technologies, 1991, with collaborators).
SRI remote-viewing programme
The Targ-Puthoff SRI programme (1972-1985) developed the standard remote-viewing protocol and produced the foundational publications:
- Targ, R., Puthoff, H. E. (1974). "Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding." Nature 251: 602-607. — The first remote-viewing paper in a major mainstream science journal.
- Puthoff, H. E., Targ, R. (1976). "A perceptual channel for information transfer over kilometer distances." Proceedings of the IEEE 64: 329-354. — Detailed methodological description.
The work fed directly into the intelligence-community remote-viewing programmes documented in Star_Gate_Program.
Public advocacy
Since the 1980s Targ has been a public advocate for remote-viewing and broader parapsychological research, with multiple books for general audiences. His Limitless Mind (2004) is a representative exposition.
Reception
Targ's laser-physics work is mainstream and well-respected. The remote-viewing work is mainstream-controversial: the 1974 Nature paper was published after careful review (though with an accompanying editorial expressing reservations), and the broader programme produced statistically significant aggregate results across many studies. Mainstream skeptics (Marks-Kammann 1980; Hyman 1995, in the AIR report on Star Gate) have argued that methodological flaws may explain the results; Targ has consistently maintained the methodological care of the SRI work.
In the psionic framework, Targ and Puthoff's SRI work is foundational evidence for the framework's predictions about non-local information access via ψ-field coupling.
Bibliography
- Targ, R., Puthoff, H. E. (1977). Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability. Delacorte.
- Targ, R., Katra, J. (1998). Miracles of Mind: Exploring Nonlocal Consciousness and Spiritual Healing. New World Library.
- Targ, R. (2004). Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness. New World Library.
- Targ, R. (2012). The Reality of ESP. Quest Books.
See Also
External Links
- Wikipedia: Russell Targ
- espresearch.com (Targ's site).
References
- As above.
