Josef Allen Hynek (May 1, 1910 - April 27, 1986) is an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He might be most remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as a scientific advisor for UFO studies conducted by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive projects: Project Signs (1947-1949), Project Grudge (1949-1952), and Project Blue Book (1952-1969).
In the following years he conducted his own UFO research, developing a "Close Encounter" classification system. He is widely regarded as the father of the concept of scientific analysis both from reports and especially from traces of evidence purportedly abandoned by UFOs.
Video J. Allen Hynek
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Hynek was born in Chicago to Czech parents. In 1931, Hynek received a B.S. from the University of Chicago. In 1935, he completed his Ph.D. in astrophysics at the Yerkes Observatory. He joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State University in 1936. He specializes in the study of stellar evolution and in the identification of spectroscopic binary stars.
Maps J. Allen Hynek
Careers
During World War II, Hynek was a civilian scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he helped develop short-range United States Navy radios.
After the war, Hynek returned to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State, rising to full professor in 1950. In 1953, Hynek filed a report on fluctuations in brightness and the color of starlight and daylight, with an emphasis on daylight observation..
In 1956, he went to join Professor Fred Whipple, Harvard astronomer, at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, in combination with the Harvard Observatory at Harvard. Hynek had the task of directing the tracking of an American space satellite, a project for the International Geophysical Year in 1956 and thereafter. In addition to more than 200 teams of amateur scientists around the world who are part of Operation Moonwatch, there are also 12 Baker-Nunn photography stations. A special camera was designed for the task and a prototype was built and tested and then stripped again when, on 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched its first satellite, Sputnik 1.
After completing his work on a satellite program, Hynek resumed teaching, taking up the position of professor and chair of the astronomy department at Northwestern University in 1960.
Evolution of opinions about UFOs
Skepticism
In response to reports of "flying saucers", the United States Air Force established Project Sign in 1948 to examine unidentified flying object visions. Hynek was contacted to act as a scientific consultant for Project Sign. He studied the UFO report and decided whether the phenomenon described in it suggested a known astronomical object.
When Project Sign hired Hynek, she was skeptical of UFO reports. Hynek suspected that they were made by unreliable witnesses, or by people who had misunderstood man-made objects or natural objects. In 1948, Hynek said that "the whole subject seems really ridiculous," and describes it as an upcoming trend.
During the first few years of his UFO study, Hynek can safely be described as a debunker. He thinks that a lot of UFOs can be described as prosaic phenomena wrongly identified by observers. In his 1977 book, Hynek admits that he enjoys his role of defiance for the Air Force. He also noted that unpacking was what the Air Force expected of him.
Change of opinion
Hynek's opinion of UFOs is slow and gradual. After examining hundreds of UFO reports over the decades (including some made by credible witnesses, including astronomers, pilots, police officers, and military personnel), Hynek concluded that some reports represent genuine empirical evidence.
Another shift in Hynek's opinion came after an informal poll of his astronomers in the early 1950s. Among those he asked was Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto's dwarf planet. Of the 44 astronomers, five (more than 11 percent) have seen air objects that they can not account for with established general science. Most of these astronomers do not widely divide their accounts for fear of ridicule or damage to their reputation or careers (Tombaugh is an exception, having openly discussed his own UFO sightings). Hynek also noted that this 11% figure, according to most polls, is bigger than those in the general public who claim to have seen UFOs. In addition, astronomers may be more knowledgeable about observing and evaluating the heavens than the general public, so their observations can be considered more impressive. Hynek was also depressed by what he regarded as the disparaging or arrogant attitude of many of the main scientists against UFO reports and witnesses.
The earliest evidence of a shift in Hynek's opinion came in 1953, when Hynek wrote an article for the April 1953 edition of the American Optical Journal entitled "Unusual Air Phenomenon," which contained what would be probably Hynek's best statement:
Ridicule is not part of the scientific method, and one should not be taught it. A steady stream of reports, often made by reliable observers, raises questions about scientific obligations and responsibilities. Is there any any worthy residue for scientific attention? Or, if not, there is no obligation to say it to the public - not in the words of open but serious taunts, to maintain confidence with the beliefs of public places in science and scientists?
In 1953, Hynek was an associate member of the Robertson Panel, which concluded that there was nothing unusual about UFOs, and that a PR campaign should be done to eliminate the subject's prejudices and reduce the public interest. Hynek would later complain that Robertson's Panel had helped make the UFO field of study unfavorable.
As the UFO report continues at a steady pace, Hynek devotes time to studying the report and determines that some people are very confused, even after learning enough. He once said, "As a scientist, I have to pay attention to the lessons of the past; too often it has happened that the things of great value to science are ignored because new phenomena are inconsistent with the accepted scientific view of the moment."
In a 1985 interview, when asked what caused his change of opinion, Hynek replied, "Two things, really, the first is a completely negative and unyielding attitude of the Air Force They will not give UFOs an opportunity to exist, even if they fly to up and down the road in broad daylight All have to have an explanation I started to hate it, although basically I feel the same, because I still think they will not do it the right way, can not assume that everything is black no matter what, Secondly, the caliber of witnesses has begun to trouble me.Some of the examples are reported by military pilots, for example, and I know they are pretty well trained, so this is when I started thinking that, well, there might be something for all of this.
Regardless of his own personal views, Hynek, in general, still echoes the post-Ruppelt Project Blue Book line: No UFOs, and most reports can be explained as misidentification.
Hynek stays with Project Sign after it becomes Project Grudge (though he is much less involved in Grudge than in Sign). The Grudge project was replaced with Project Blue Book in early 1952, and Hynek remained a scientific consultant. Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, the first director of Blue Book, holds Hynek with great respect: "Dr. Hynek is one of the most impressive scientists I met while working on UFO projects, and I met many people. of them do: give the answer before he knows the question, or immediately begin to explain his achievements in science. "
Although Hynek thinks Ruppelt is a capable director who directs Project Blue Book in the right direction, Ruppelt headed for the Blue Book for only a few years. Hynek also expressed his opinion that after Ruppelt's departure, Project Blue Book was nothing more than a public relations exercise, further that little or no research was done using the scientific method.
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Hynek began occasionally disagreeing openly with the Blue Book conclusion. In the early 1960s - after about a decade and a half of research - Clark wrote that "Hynek's clear turnaround on UFO questions is a public secret." Only after the Blue Book was officially dissolved, Hynek spoke more openly of his "turnaround".
With his own admission, the soft-spoken Hynek was cautious and conservative naturally. He speculates that his personality is a factor in the Air Force keeping him as a consultant for more than two decades.
Some other ufologists think that Hynek is being dishonesty or even duplicating in his turnaround. Physicist James E. McDonald, for example, wrote to Hynek in 1970, punishing him for what McDonald saw as his perversion, and suggested that, when evaluated by later generations, retired Major Marine Corps Donald E. Keyhoe would be considered more objective ufologist, , and scientific.
During the final stages of the Blue Book in the 1960s, Hynek began to speak openly about his disagreements and his disillusionment with the Air Force. Among the cases in which he publicly disagreed with the Air Force was the publicized pursuit of Portage County UFOs, where several policemen chased UFOs for half an hour, and a meeting of Lonnie Zamora, a police officer who reported meeting with an egg-shaped metallic plane near Socorro, New Mexico.
In late March 1966 in Michigan, two days of mass UFO sightings were reported, and received significant publicity. After studying the report, Hynek offers a temporary hypothesis for several sightings: some of about 100 witnesses think of swamp gas for something more spectacular. At a press conference where he made his announcement, Hynek repeatedly and loudly stated that swamp gas is a plausible explanation for only part of Michigan's UFO report, and certainly not for general UFO reports. But much to the dismay, Hynek's qualifications about his hypothesis are largely ignored, and the term "swamp gas" is a recurring infinitum in relation to UFO reports. His explanations are subject to national criticism.
In reply dated October 7, 1968, to request a scientific recommendation on the Blue Book of Colonel Raymond Sleeper, commander of the USAF's Foreign Technology Division, Hynek notes that the Blue Book suffers from many procedural problems and lack of resources, which makes it "totally inadequate". Hynek also notes that one of the raisings has given Blue Book the nickname "Society for Unexplained Explanations".
UFO Study Center (CUFOS)
Hynek is the founder and first head of the UFO Study Center (CUFOS). Founded in 1973 in Evanston, Illinois (but now based in Chicago), CUFOS supports scientific analysis of UFO cases. The extensive CUFOS archive includes valuable files from civil research groups such as NICAP, one of the most popular and credible UFO research groups in the 1950s and 1960s.
Speech before the UN
In November 1978, Hynek presented statements about UFOs before the UN General Assembly on his behalf, Jacques Vallà © Å © e, and Claude Poher. The speech is prepared and approved by three authors. Their goal is to start a UFO-centered UN authority.
Hypothesis of UFO origin
At the annual MUFON symposium in 1973, held in Akron, Ohio, Hynek first expressed his doubts about the space hypothesis (formerly interplanetary or intergalactic ), in a speech entitled "The Embarrassing of Wealth ". He realized that the number of UFO sightings is much higher than that reflected in the Blue Book Project statistics. "Some good sightings a year, worldwide, will support the extraterrestrial hypothesis - but thousands each year? From remote areas of space? And for what purpose? To frighten us by stopping cars, and harassing animals, and confusing us with the antics those who seem to be in vain? "
In a paper presented to the Joint Symposium of the American Institute of Aeronautics & amp; Astronautics in Los Angeles in 1975, he wrote, "If you object, I ask you to explain - quantitatively, not qualitatively - the reported phenomenon of materialization and dematerialization, change of form, silently floating in the Earth's gravitational field , the acceleration - for an adequate mass - requires a source of energy far beyond present capabilities - even theoretical capabilities, the well-known and frequently reported effects of EM (electro-magnetic interference), psychic effects on perception, including recognized telepathic communication. "
In 1977, at the First International UFO Congress in Chicago, Hynek presented his thoughts in his speech, "What I Strongly Believe About UFOs". "I believe," he said, "that the UFO phenomenon as a whole is real, but I do not mean that it's just one thing.We must ask whether the UFO diversity is observed... all coming from the same ground source, like the weather phenomenon , which are all coming from the atmosphere, "or are they different" because rain differs from the meteor, which in turn is different from the cosmic rays bath. "We should not ask, Hynek said, simply what hypotheses can explain most facts, but which hypothesis which can explain the most confusing facts.
Regarding the hypothesis of space intelligence (ETI) and extradimensional intelligence (EDI), Hynek continued, "There is sufficient evidence to defend both". As evidence for the ETI hypothesis, he mentions cases involving radar as good evidence of something solid, as well as cases of physical evidence. Then he turned to defend the EDI hypothesis: in addition to the observation of materialization and dematerialization, he cites the "poltergeist" phenomenon experienced by some after close encounters; UFO photographs, sometimes only in one frame, and not seen by witnesses; change of form in front of witness; a confusing question about telepathic communication; that in close encounters of the third kind, the creatures seem to be at home in Earth's gravity and atmosphere; sudden silence in front of the plane; levitation of the car or person; and development by some psychic abilities after the meeting. "Do we have two aspects of one phenomenon or two sets of different phenomena?" Ask Hynek.
Finally, he introduced the third hypothesis. "I hold it entirely possible," he said, "that there is a technology, which includes both physical and psychic, material and mental.There are stars that are millions of years older than the sun, perhaps civilizations that are millions of years ahead of humans. Kitty Hawk to the moon in some seventy years, but maybe a million years civilization may know something that we do not... I hypothesize 'M & amp; M' technology that encompasses the mental and material realm Psychic realm, so mysterious to us today , may be a regular part of advanced technology. "
In Hynek and Vallee's 1975 Edge of Reality, Hynek published stereoscopic photos of UFOs he took during the flight. According to the book, the object remained visible long enough for Hynek to unpack his camera from his suitcase and take two exposures. UFO researcher Robert Sheaffer wrote in his book Psychic Traffic that Hynek seems to have forgotten the photos when he later told a reporter to The Globe and Mail that he had never seen a UFO.. The article states that for years he has been looking up, Hynek "has never seen" what I really want to see. Oh, the subject has been laughed at so I will never report UFO even if I see one - not without witness' ".
Close Third Type Meeting
In his first book, Hynek published a "Close Encounter" scale that he developed to better catalog UFO reports. Hynek then became a consultant for Columbia Pictures and Steven Spielberg for the popular 1977 UFO film Encoded Close Encounters of the Third Kind, named after the Hynek scale. He makes a cameo appearance that does not speak in the movie (at the end of the movie, after the aliens get out of the "aircraft carrier", he can be seen, bearded and with a pipe in his mouth, stepping forward to see the spectacle).
Personal life
Hynek and his wife, Miriam (Curtis) have five children. Son Hynek, Joel is the Oscar-winning visual effects overseer. She oversaw the camouflage effects design for the Predator film, and won the Best Visual Effects Oscar for her work on What Dreams Come .
Death
On April 27, 1986, Hynek died of a malignant brain tumor, at Memorial Hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is 75 years old, and survived by his wife Mimi, the sons of Scott, Roxane, Joel, Paul, and Ross, and his grandchildren.
Books
- UFO experience: A scientific question (1972) ISBN: 978-1-56924-782-2
- The Edge of Reality: Report of progress on unidentified flying objects , with Jacques VallÃÆ' © e (1975) ISBNÃ, 978-0-8092-8150-3
- Hynek UFO Report (1977)
- Siege Night - Hudson Valley UFO Sightings , with Philip Imbrogno and Bob Pratt (1987)
- UFO or Fiction Facts - circa 1970
References
External links
- Our Night Speaker: Josef Allen Hynek on Saturday Night Uforia
- J. Allen Hynek Papers, 1925-1988, University of Northwestern Archives, Evanston, Illinois
- J. Allen Hynek: The Pied Piper of Ufology? (dead link)
- Interview with J. Allen Hynek by Ian Ridpath (New Scientist, 1973 May 17)
- J. Interview with Allen Hynek 1985
- French biography of J. Allen Hynek
- J. Allen Hynek's statement before the committee on science and astronotics, July 1968
- J. Biography of Allen Hynek at Ufopsi
- J. Biography of Allen Hynek in Spanish
- Historical document from Phillip Klass's collection of Robert Sheaffer about Hynek
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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