Editing Tin foil hat

{{short description|Hat and stereotype for conspiracy theorists}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
[[File:Manwithtinfoilhat.jpg|thumb|A man wearing a tin foil hat]]
A '''tin foil hat''' is a [[hat]] made from one or more sheets of [[tin foil]] or [[aluminium foil]], or a piece of conventional headgear lined with foil, often worn in the belief or hope that it shields the [[Human brain|brain]] from threats such as [[electromagnetic field]]s, [[Brainwashing|mind control]], and [[telepathy|mind reading]]. The notion of wearing homemade headgear for such protection has become a popular stereotype and byword for [[paranoia]], [[persecutory delusions]], and belief in [[pseudoscience]] and [[conspiracy theories]].

"Tin foil" is a common [[misnomer]] for [[aluminium]] foil in English-speaking countries; packaging metal foil was formerly made out of [[tin]] before it was replaced with aluminium.<ref>{{cite web |title=Foil - metallurgy |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/foil-metallurgy |website=Britannica.com |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>

== Origin ==
Some people – "Tin Foil Hatters" – have a belief that such hats prevent [[mind control by governments]], spies, mobsters, corporations, extraterrestrial, or paranormal beings that employ [[Extrasensory perception|ESP]] or the [[microwave auditory effect]]. People in many countries who believe they are "[[Electronic harassment|targeted individuals]]", subject to government, corporate, or criminal spying or harassment, have developed websites, conference calls, and support meetings to discuss their concerns, including the idea of protective headgear.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001399_3.html|title=Mind Games|last=Weinberger|first=Sharon|date=14 January 2007|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=29 June 2015}}</ref> ''Vice Magazine'' wrote that the tin foil hat in popular culture "can be traced back in a very weird and prescient short story written in 1927 by [[Julian Huxley]]"<ref>{{cite web |title=A Brief Cultural History of the Tin Foil Hat |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-brief-cultural-history-of-the-tin-foil-hat/ |website=Vice.com |date=6 March 2015 |access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref> titled "[[The Tissue-Culture King]]", wherein the main character uses a metal hat to prevent being mind controlled by the villain scientist.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Huxley |first1=Julian |title=The Tissue-Culture King |url=http://www.revolutionsf.com/fiction/tissue/ |access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="Huxley1927">{{cite journal |last=Huxley |first=Julian |title=The Tissue-Culture King |date=August 1927 |journal=[[Amazing Stories]] |quote=Well, we had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect, and had prepared for ourselves a sort of tin pulpit, behind which we could stand while conducting experiments. This, combined with caps of metal foil, enormously reduced the effects on ourselves.}}</ref> Over time the term "tin foil hat" has become associated with [[paranoia]] and [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]].<ref name="Crazy">{{cite web|title=Hey Crazy – Get a New Hat |url=http://www.bostonist.com/archives/2005/11/15/hey_crazyget_a_new_hat.php |access-date=5 April 2007 |date=15 November 2005 |publisher=Bostonist |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503051428/http://www.bostonist.com/archives/2005/11/15/hey_crazyget_a_new_hat.php |archive-date=3 May 2007 }}</ref>

== Scientific basis ==
[[Electromagnetic radiation and health|Effects of strong electromagnetic radiation on health]] have been documented for quite some time.<ref name="Ref_1979">{{cite journal |title=Neurophysiologic effects of Radiofrequency and Microwave Radiation |journal=Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine |volume=55 |issue=11 |first=W. R. |last=Adey |date=December 1979 |pages=1079–1093|pmid=295243 |pmc=1807758 }}</ref><ref name="Lean2006">{{cite news |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article362557.ece |title=Electronic smog |work=The Independent |date=7 May 2006 |access-date=9 June 2009 |location=London |first=Geoffrey |last=Lean |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517030959/http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article362557.ece |archive-date=17 May 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The efficiency of a metal enclosure in blocking electromagnetic radiation depends on the thickness of the foil, as dictated by the "[[skin effect|skin depth]]" of the conductor for a particular wave frequency range of the radiation. For half-millimetre-thick aluminum foil, radiation above about 20&nbsp;kHz (i.e., including both [[AM band|AM]] and [[FM band]]s) would be partially blocked, although aluminum foil is not sold in this thickness, so numerous layers of foil would be required to achieve this effect.<ref name="Jackson1998">{{cite book |title=Classical Electrodynamics |first=John David |last=Jackson |publisher=Wiley Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-471-30932-1 }}</ref>

In 1962, [[Allan H. Frey]] discovered that the [[microwave auditory effect]] (i.e., the sounds induced by the reception of radio-frequency electromagnetic signals, heard as clicks and buzzes) can be blocked by a patch of [[wire mesh]] (rather than foil) placed above the [[temporal lobe]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Frey|first=Allan H.|date=1962-07-01|title=Human auditory system response to modulated electromagnetic energy|url=http://jap.physiology.org/content/17/4/689|journal=Journal of Applied Physiology|language=en|volume=17|issue=4|pages=689–692|issn=8750-7587|pmid=13895081|doi=10.1152/jappl.1962.17.4.689|s2cid=12359057|access-date=25 May 2017|archive-date=16 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916192444/http://jap.physiology.org/content/17/4/689|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Elder & Chou 2003">{{cite journal |doi=10.1002/bem.10163 |last1=Elder |first1=Joe A. |last2=Chou |first2=C.K. |year=2003 |title=Auditory response to pulsed radiofrequency energy |journal=Bioelectromagnetics |volume=24 |issue=S6 |pages=S162–73 |issn=0197-8462 |pmid=14628312|s2cid=9813447 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 2005, a [[tongue-in-cheek]] experimental study<ref>{{Cite web|last=Soniak|first=Matt|date=2012-09-28|title=Tin Foil Hats Actually Make it Easier for the Government to Track Your Thoughts|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/tin-foil-hats-actually-make-it-easier-for-the-government-to-track-your-thoughts/262998/|access-date=2020-08-04|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-02-17|title=On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study|url=http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/|archive-date=2010-07-08}}</ref> by a group of MIT students found that tin foil hats do shield their wearers from radio waves over most of the tested spectrum, but amplified certain frequencies, around 2.6&nbsp;GHz and 1.2&nbsp;GHz.

==In popular culture==
In 2005, [[Bruce Perens]] reported on an encounter between [[Richard Stallman]] and security personnel at the UN [[World Summit on the Information Society]], titled "Stallman Gets in Trouble with UN Security for Wearing a Tin-Foil Hat".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://perens.sourcelabs.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427230237/http://perens.sourcelabs.com/ |archive-date=2006-04-27 |title=Friday, November 18: Richard Stallman Gets in Trouble with UN Security for Wearing a Tin-Foil Hat |date=2005-11-18}}</ref> The tin-foil hat in the title was figurative, as Stallman did not actually don a tin-foil hat, but instead wrapped an identification card containing a [[RFID|radio-frequency identification]] device in tin foil in protest against the intrusion on his privacy.

In a 2016 article, the musician and researcher [[Meadow House|Daniel Wilson]] writing in paranormal magazine ''[[Fortean Times]]'' noted an early allusion to an "insulative electrical contrivance encircling the head during thought" in the unusual 1909 [[non-fiction]] publication ''Atomic Consciousness''<ref name="Bathurst1909">{{cite book |title=Atomic Consciousness Abridgement |first=James |last=Bathurst |publisher=W. Manning, London |year=1909}}</ref> by self-proclaimed "seer" John Palfrey (aka "James Bathurst") who believed such headgear was not effective for his "retention of thoughts and ideas" against a supposed "telepathic impactive impingement".<ref name="Wilson2016">{{cite magazine |title=Atomic-Consciousness |magazine=[[Fortean Times]] |date=June 2016 |first=Daniel |last=Wilson}}</ref>

Tin foil hats have appeared in such films as ''[[Signs (2002 film)|Signs]]'' (2002),<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5682464/area-51-raid-hat/ |title=Area 51 Raid But Make It Fashion: It Takes a Lot to Stand Out at Alien-Themed Festival But This Guy's Tin Foil Hat Is Working |last=Lang |first=Cady |date=September 20, 2019 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=March 10, 2020}}</ref> ''[[Noroi: The Curse]]'' (2005),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/screens/2017-07-09/dvdanger-dont-knock-twice/ |title=DVDanger: Don't Knock Twice |last=Whittaker|first=Richard|date=July 9, 2017|work=[[The Austin Chronicle]]|access-date=April 14, 2020}}</ref> and ''[[Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder]]'' (2009).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/36153/futurama-into-the-wild-green-yonder/ |title=Futurama: Into The Wild Green Yonder|last=Miller III|first=Randy|date=February 1, 2009|website=[[DVD Talk]]|access-date=March 10, 2020}}</ref>

The 2019 [[HBO]] television series ''[[Watchmen (TV series)|Watchmen]]'' features the character Wade Tillman/Looking Glass, a police officer who wears a mask made of reflective foil, and while off-duty, a cap lined in foil to protect his mind from alien psychic attacks.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://screenrant.com/watchmen-show-easter-eggs-episode-5/ |title=Watchmen: Biggest Comic Easter Eggs in Episode 5 |last=Erdmann |first=Kevin |date=November 18, 2019 |website=[[Screen Rant]] |access-date=March 10, 2020}}</ref>

In 2024, several teachers in [[Russia]]'s [[Voronezh Oblast]] posed themselves with tin foil hats, due a prank by a Belarusian prankster Vladislav Bokhan, who posed as an official from [[United Russia]]. He sent an "order" to local schools asking teachers to hold a "Helmet of the Fatherland" workshop. The workshop contained instructions for making Tin foil hats as a "patriotic campaign" and to "defend themselves from the irradiation from NATO satellites".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-russia-teachers-tinfoil-hat-prank/33198362.html|title=Belarusian Artist Says Tinfoil Hat Prank Tests 'Fascistization' In Russian Society|date=November 11, 2024|website=[[Radio Free Europe]]}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[5G conspiracy theories]]
* [[Brainwashing]]
* [[Denpa]], a Japanese term that includes those who believe they are being persecuted by electromagnetic waves
* [[Electronic harassment]]
* [[Electromagnetic hypersensitivity]]
* [[Faraday cage]]
* [[The Hum]]
* [[List of hat styles]]
* [[Microwave auditory effect]]
* [[On the Origin of the "Influencing Machine" in Schizophrenia]]
* [[Thought broadcasting]]
* [[Thought insertion]]
* [[Bioelectromagnetics]]
* [[Magnetobiology]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{commons category-inline|Tin foil hats}}

{{Hats}}
{{Pseudoscience|state=autocollapse}}
{{Conspiracy theories}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tin Foil Hat}}
[[Category:Hats in popular culture]]
[[Category:Mind control]]
[[Category:Paranoia]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]
[[Category:Protective gear]]