Post by swamprat on May 2, 2018 19:31:46 GMT
Josef Allen Hynek
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 Yerkes Observatory. He joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State University in 1936. He specialized in the study of stellar evolution and in the identification of spectroscopic binary stars.
During World War II, Hynek was a civilian scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he helped to develop the United States Navy's radio proximity fuze.
After the war, Hynek returned to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State, rising to full professor in 1950. In 1953, Hynek submitted a report on the fluctuations in the brightness and color of starlight and daylight, with an emphasis on daytime observations.
In 1956, he left to join Professor Fred Whipple, the Harvard astronomer, at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which had combined with the Harvard Observatory at Harvard. Hynek had the assignment of directing the tracking of an American space satellite, a project for the International Geophysical Year in 1956 and thereafter. In addition to over 200 teams of amateur scientists around the world that were part of Operation Moonwatch, there were also 12 photographic Baker-Nunn stations. A special camera was devised for the task and a prototype was built and tested and then stripped apart again when, on Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched its first satellite, Sputnik 1.
After completing his work on the satellite program, Hynek went back to teaching, taking the position of professor and chairman of the astronomy department at Northwestern University in 1960.
Hynek and his wife, Miriam (Curtis) had five children. Hynek's son Joel is an Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor. He oversaw the design of the camouflage effect for the movie Predator, and won the Best Visual Effects Oscar for his work on What Dreams May Come.
Author of 5 books:
• The UFO Experience: A scientific inquiry.
• The Edge of Reality: A progress report on the unidentified flying objects
• The Hynek UFO Report
• Night Siege—The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings
• UFO Fact or Fiction
On April 27, 1986, Hynek died of a malignant brain tumor, at Memorial Hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona.[21] He was 75 years old, and was survived by his wife Mimi, children Scott, Roxane, Joel, Paul, and Ross, and his grandchildren.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
Allen Hynek Astronomer and Ufologist
by George A. Filer III
Allen Hynek, an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific advisor to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive projects: Project Sign (1947–1949), Project Grudge … and Project Blue Book (1952–1969).
When Project Sign hired Hynek, he was skeptical of UFO reports. Hynek suspected that they were made by unreliable witnesses, or by persons who had misidentified man-made or natural objects. In 1948, Hynek said that "the whole subject seems utterly ridiculous," and described it as a fad that would soon pass.
For the first few years of his UFO studies, Hynek could safely be described as a debunker. He thought that a great many UFOs could be explained as prosaic phenomena misidentified by an observer. In his 1977 book, Hynek admitted that he enjoyed his role as a debunker for the Air Force. He also noted that debunking was what the Air Force expected of him.
In later years he conducted his own independent UFO research, developing the “Close Encounter” classification system. He is widely considered by ufologists as the father of the concept of scientific analysis both of reports and especially of trace evidence purportedly left by UFOs
At a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives, before the Committee on Science and Astronautics on July 29, 1968, Allen Hynek took some of his significant UFO reports out of wraps and presented them to the committee. He said, “He admitted he first regarded the UFO subject as “rank nonsense.” But in describing his changed opinion he said;
“I have been led to a conclusion quite different due to the cumulative weight of continued reports from groups of people from around the world, whose competence and sanity I have no reason to doubt. Reports involving close encounters with unexplainable craft, with physical effects on animals, motor vehicles, plants, and on the ground, have led me reluctantly to the conclusion that either there is a scientifically valuable subset of reports in the UFO phenomena, or that we have a world society containing people who are articulate, sane and reputable in all matters save UFO reports.”
“. . . when one or more obviously reliable persons report – as has happened many times – that a brightly illuminated object hovered a few hundred feet above their automobile, and that during the incident their car motor stopped, the headlights dimmed or went out, and the radio stopped playing only to have these functions return to normal after the disappearance of the UFO, it is clearly another matter.”
“By what right can we summarily ignore their testimony and imply that they are deluded or just plain liars? Would we so treat these same people if they were testifying in court, under oath, on more mundane matters?”
He also wrote a letter to his boss, Colonel Ray Sleeper (Oct. 7, 1968) which exposed the myriad problems of Blue Book and chastised the Air Force for releasing astronomical answers to cases without consulting him.
Editor’s Note: Colonel Ray Sleeper Commander of the 3000 personnel Foreign Technology Division (FTD) visited me in my home and discussed UFOs and Dr. Hynek. FTD mission was to acquire, collect, analyze, and produce and disseminate foreign aerospace scientific and technological intelligence. Colonel Sleeper had personally observed UFOs while flying a B-52 and had read the entire Blue Book files.
When Ray took over FTD in 1966, he was told to cut 100 spaces from the three thousand man organization. He visited the Blue Book area and saw six cabinets full of reports. He felt there were 22,000 UFO reports and 15% were unexplained. He felt that Bluebook was the only unit in the Air Force investigating UFOs. They attempted to make a serious study of the phenomenon. They used Dr. Hynek who came in once a month and reviewed all the recent cases. He was ordered to fire Hynek for publishing some the UFO files. Even though he personally liked him. Dr. Hynek made statements that were often controversial and in disagreement with Air Force point of view. He was then ordered to rehire him by Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown.
nationalufocenter.com/