# Kevin Knuth

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/people/kevin-knuth/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

Real Alpha has cut 7 moments of Kevin Knuth (Professor of physics, University at Albany) talking, from an interview on Into the Impossible With Brian Keating published Nov 11, 2026.

- Role: Professor of physics, University at Albany
- About: Led a multimodal UAP study combining optical, infrared, weather-radar and radiation data.

## What Kevin Knuth said

- [Extreme power estimates collide with waste-heat limits](https://realalpha.app/s/extreme-power-estimates-collide-with-waste-heat-limits/)
  Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026 · 6 min
  > “Even if you have a 0.1% inefficiency, that means that 0.1% of 1000 gigawatts is going to be leaking out in waste heat.” — Kevin Knuth · [11:48](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/?t=708)
- [Relativistic travel trades short trips for decades on Earth](https://realalpha.app/s/relativistic-travel-trades-short-trips-for-decades-on-earth/)
  Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026 · 4 min
  > “For everybody in the galaxy, it takes 40 years. For the traveler, it takes less than two days.” — Kevin Knuth · [24:53](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/?t=1493)
- [A reported underwater object implies extraordinary speed](https://realalpha.app/s/a-reported-underwater-object-implies-extraordinary-speed/)
  Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026 · 3 min
  > “they were followed by a large underwater object, which they measured to be 150 feet wide and 800 feet long.” — Kevin Knuth · [28:22](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/?t=1702)
- [A JAL radar analysis found jumps near 10,000 Gs](https://realalpha.app/s/a-jal-radar-analysis-found-jumps-near-10-000-gs/)
  Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026 · 3 min
  > “john callahan actually made copies of the radar data and kept them in a box under his desk” — Kevin Knuth · [14:26](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/?t=866)
- [UFO brightness estimates depend on the assumed light pattern](https://realalpha.app/s/ufo-brightness-estimates-depend-on-the-assumed-light-pattern/)
  Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026 · 5 min
  > “you're looking at a power of 2,500 to 30,000 megawatts.” — Kevin Knuth · [37:55](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/?t=2275)
- [Knuth treats acceleration estimates as probability distributions](https://realalpha.app/s/knuth-treats-acceleration-estimates-as-probability/)
  Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026 · 3 min
  > “you can't actually estimate a systematic error because you would need to know what the true value is to estimate that” — Kevin Knuth · [18:15](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/?t=1095)
- [Oberth cited radar-measured UAP speeds in 1954](https://realalpha.app/s/oberth-cited-radar-measured-uap-speeds-in-1954/)
  Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026 · 3 min
  > “their speed is sometimes very high 19 kilometers a second has been measured with wireless measuring instruments radar” — Kevin Knuth · [4:35](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/?t=275)

## The episode

- [Physics Professor: How Much Power Does a UFO Really Need?](https://realalpha.app/v/EKlLswUgyRI/) · Into the Impossible With Brian Keating · Nov 11, 2026