Christopher Michel · CC BY-SA 4.0

Avi Loeb chaired Harvard's astronomy department for nearly a decade and founded its Black Hole Initiative in 2016, building a career in theoretical astrophysics and cosmology substantial enough to earn fellowships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. Since 2017 he has drawn wide attention — and wide criticism from other scientists — for arguing that the interstellar object 'Oumuamua and similar bodies could be alien spacecraft, publicizing findings, including a disputed 2023 seafloor recovery, before they underwent peer review.