Questions about the Dharma..

The DHARMA (DEPARTMENT of HEURISTICS AND RESEARCH on MATERIAL APPLICATIONS) Initiative was a scientific research project that had a large presence on the Island between the 1970s and the early 1990s.
The Initiative was founded by Karen and Gerald DeGroot, two doctoral candidates at the University of Michagan. It was financially backed by Alvar Hanso and his Hanso Foundation.
The Initiative's general goal was to manipulate scientific laws in order to change any of the six factors of the Valenzetti Equation, a sequence believed to have some connection to the date marking the end of humanity, in hopes of delaying such a date. According to the Swan's Orientation Film, the purpose was to create 'a large-scale communal research compound where scientists and free-thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and Utopian social-[static].'
An as of yet unidentified man was able to find the location of the Island in the 1960s, using the Lamp Post Station in LA. It harnessed that unique pocket of energy in that area. A few years on a tiny commune was created, The DHARMA Initiative.

All very complicated I know. :)