Ray Hyman

Biography

Ray Hyman (1926-2016) was an American psychologist and prominent skeptic known for debunking paranormal claims. A professor at the University of Oregon, he played a key role in evaluating U.S. government psychic research programs linked to UFO-related intelligence efforts. Invited by the Air Force to assess the Stargate Project's remote viewing experiments (1978-1995), Hyman co-authored a 1995 CIA-commissioned review with Jessica Utts. While Utts found evidence for psychic functioning, Hyman argued the results were inconclusive, attributable to subjective validation, vague data, and lack of replication. He critiqued methodological flaws and secrecy in programs like those at SRI, exposing frauds such as Uri Geller. Hyman's work underscored the absence of scientific proof for ESP in military contexts overlapping with UFO studies.