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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/J. Allen Hynek.md
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@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ relations:
role: "consultant, nature of work unknown"
start: 1970-04
end: 1974
fn: 21
fn: 23
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Ohio State University]]"
role: "instructor to professor of astronomy"
@ -128,11 +128,11 @@ Hynek investigated reports from [[Dexter, Michigan|Dexter]] and [[Hillsdale, Mic
On 28 March 1966 Representative [[Gerald Ford]], [[House Minority Leader]], wrote to the chairmen of the [[House Committee on Armed Services]] and the [[House Committee on Science and Astronautics]] that Hynek "dismissed all of them as the product of college student pranks or swamp gas or an impression created by the rising crescent moon and the planet Venus," and the accompanying news release described Hynek's explanation as "flippant." Ford enclosed a column by [[Roscoe Drummond]] and articles by [[Bulkley Griffin]] of the [[Griffin-Larrabee News Bureau]].[^15]
At the Armed Services Committee hearing of 5 April 1966, chaired by [[L. Mendel Rivers]], Hynek testified with Secretary of the Air Force [[Harold Brown]]. His opening statement said that "the body of data accumulated since 1948 through the Air Force investigations deserves close scrutiny by a civilian panel of physical and social scientists." Asked by Representative [[William H. Bates]] of [[Massachusetts]] the question put to Brown, whether anyone of scientific knowledge had concluded that the phenomena came from extraterrestrial sources, he answered that he knew "of no competent scientist who would say that these objects come from outer space," and to Representative [[L. N. Nedzi]] of Michigan he said "the possibility should be kept open as a possible hypothesis."[^5]
At the Armed Services Committee hearing of 5 April 1966, chaired by [[L. Mendel Rivers]], Hynek testified with Secretary of the Air Force [[Harold Brown]]. His opening statement said that "the body of data accumulated since 1948 through the Air Force investigations deserves close scrutiny by a civilian panel of physical and social scientists." Asked by Representative [[William H. Bates]] of [[Massachusetts]] the question put to Brown, whether anyone of scientific knowledge had concluded that the phenomena came from extraterrestrial sources, he answered that he knew "of no competent scientist who would say that these objects come from outer space," and to Representative [[L. N. Nedzi]] of Michigan he said "the possibility should be kept open as a possible hypothesis."[^5] Chairman Rivers opened the UFO portion of the session by saying, "Mr. Ford has come out, he has a pretty good size stature in the Congress," and later asked that Ford's letter and Secretary Brown's response be put into the record. The printed transcript reproduces the March 28 letter, addressed there to Rivers alone, in full. The news release that accompanied the letter described the "swamp gas" explanation given by Hynek as "flippant."[^16][^17]
### The Condon Committee
Hynek briefed the University of Colorado's [[Condon Committee]] in its preliminary study; Hynek, [[Jacques Vallee]] and [[William Powers]] of the Dearborn Observatory are thanked in its acknowledgments for consultation "voluntarily supplied."[^16] The report records that "Prof. Hynek strongly believes that the teams should have four or more members" and recommends "giving each report what he calls the 'FBI treatment,'" meaning thorough interviewing and "an active quest in the neighborhood where the sighting occurred to try to discover additional witnesses."[^17] [[Philip J. Klass]], quoting a book by the Condon staff member [[David Saunders]], wrote that Hynek attended a secret meeting in [[Denver]] on 12 December 1967 with Saunders, [[Norman Levine]], [[Mary Lou Armstrong]] and [[James E. McDonald]], where, in Saunders's account, "Hynek wanted to create a visible group of qualified individuals who took the UFO problem seriously, so that in the event of a Congressional hearing, there would exist an organization to which the Congress could turn," and left early with a cold before McDonald raised the Low memorandum.[^18] Hynek's own log records attending a Denver meeting "unofficially, and at my own expense" on 13 December.[^12]
Hynek briefed the University of Colorado's [[Condon Committee]] in its preliminary study; Hynek, [[Jacques Vallee]] and [[William Powers]] of the Dearborn Observatory are thanked in its acknowledgments for consultation "voluntarily supplied."[^18] The report records that "Prof. Hynek strongly believes that the teams should have four or more members" and recommends "giving each report what he calls the 'FBI treatment,'" meaning thorough interviewing and "an active quest in the neighborhood where the sighting occurred to try to discover additional witnesses."[^19] [[Philip J. Klass]], quoting a book by the Condon staff member [[David Saunders]], wrote that Hynek attended a secret meeting in [[Denver]] on 12 December 1967 with Saunders, [[Norman Levine]], [[Mary Lou Armstrong]] and [[James E. McDonald]], where, in Saunders's account, "Hynek wanted to create a visible group of qualified individuals who took the UFO problem seriously, so that in the event of a Congressional hearing, there would exist an organization to which the Congress could turn," and left early with a cold before McDonald raised the Low memorandum.[^20] Hynek's own log records attending a Denver meeting "unofficially, and at my own expense" on 13 December.[^12]
Zeidman wrote that within a few months of the start of the Colorado project Hynek told her he knew it had been decided that the findings would be negative, and that for years he "had understood that he was being kept out of the inner circle, that even with his high security clearances it was judged that he had no need to know what was really going on."[^9]
@ -142,11 +142,11 @@ Representative [[Donald Rumsfeld]] introduced Hynek to the House Committee on Sc
### End of the consultancy and the Center for UFO Studies
An Air Force memorandum of 20 October 1969, with the signature block of Brigadier General [[C. H. Bolender]], states that Hynek "served as a scientific consultant until 1 July 1969" and recommends "not renewing the consultant contract."[^19] On 3 March 1969 Hynek, signing as director of the Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center, had written to Colonel [[George R. Weinbrenner]], commander of the [[Foreign Technology Division]] at Wright-Patterson, enclosing a "Preliminary Proposal for Subject Investigation," dated 14 March 1969, for a pilot study of reports of cars losing ignition and lights near luminous objects. The proposal cites "the potential military* and scientific value of this electrical damping phenomenon," with an asterisked note quoting an [[Associated Press]] report of 9 November 1957 that "a device capable of disrupting the operation of motor vehicles" was something the armed forces would like developed, while the chief engineer of the [[National Inventors Council]] said he knew of no research aimed at producing one. It states that Hynek had compiled "well over one hundred such reports," that a second phase "will and must" be entered into as a major effort "calling for the deployment of the best scientific facilities of the Air Force and its contractors," and that if the phenomenon is real "it is obviously in the national interest to gain an understanding of the phenomenon and its practical application before other nations, in which this phenomenon is also reported to occur, gain an advantage." It asks for "full and complete personal access by the Principal Investigator to Blue Book data of all degrees of classification," includes a consulting fee for the principal investigator, and states that the project should be "entirely apart from Project Blue Book."[^20]
An Air Force memorandum of 20 October 1969, with the signature block of Brigadier General [[C. H. Bolender]], states that Hynek "served as a scientific consultant until 1 July 1969" and recommends "not renewing the consultant contract."[^21] On 3 March 1969 Hynek, signing as director of the Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center, had written to Colonel [[George R. Weinbrenner]], commander of the [[Foreign Technology Division]] at Wright-Patterson, enclosing a "Preliminary Proposal for Subject Investigation," dated 14 March 1969, for a pilot study of reports of cars losing ignition and lights near luminous objects. The proposal cites "the potential military* and scientific value of this electrical damping phenomenon," with an asterisked note quoting an [[Associated Press]] report of 9 November 1957 that "a device capable of disrupting the operation of motor vehicles" was something the armed forces would like developed, while the chief engineer of the [[National Inventors Council]] said he knew of no research aimed at producing one. It states that Hynek had compiled "well over one hundred such reports," that a second phase "will and must" be entered into as a major effort "calling for the deployment of the best scientific facilities of the Air Force and its contractors," and that if the phenomenon is real "it is obviously in the national interest to gain an understanding of the phenomenon and its practical application before other nations, in which this phenomenon is also reported to occur, gain an advantage." It asks for "full and complete personal access by the Principal Investigator to Blue Book data of all degrees of classification," includes a consulting fee for the principal investigator, and states that the project should be "entirely apart from Project Blue Book."[^22]
Zeidman wrote in 1991 that the researcher Brian Parks had obtained, through the [[Freedom of Information Act]], Hynek's record of employment as a Foreign Technology Division consultant from 1970 to 1974, "an executive appointment, beginning in April 1970, less than six months after Blue Book's official closure," working "only a few days each year," and that it was not known whether the work related to UFOs.[^21] She wrote that in October 1973 she drove Hynek from a small building at Wright-Patterson to Columbus, that he introduced her to a man in dress uniform who "may have been a major," that he "would not tell me anything about what he was doing at Wright-Patterson," and that on 26 December 1976 in his Evanston home he said: "It's very definitely connected with intelligence somewhere."[^21]
Zeidman wrote in 1991 that the researcher Brian Parks had obtained, through the [[Freedom of Information Act]], Hynek's record of employment as a Foreign Technology Division consultant from 1970 to 1974, "an executive appointment, beginning in April 1970, less than six months after Blue Book's official closure," working "only a few days each year," and that it was not known whether the work related to UFOs.[^23] She wrote that in October 1973 she drove Hynek from a small building at Wright-Patterson to Columbus, that he introduced her to a man in dress uniform who "may have been a major," that he "would not tell me anything about what he was doing at Wright-Patterson," and that on 26 December 1976 in his Evanston home he said: "It's very definitely connected with intelligence somewhere."[^23]
His book [[The UFO Experience|The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry]] appeared in 1972, and in 1973 he started the Center for UFO Studies, serving as scientific director until his death in 1986 and naming [[Mark Rodeghier]] as his successor.[^2] Project 1947 states that the Center received most of the National Investigations Committee's files, that Hynek held a copy of the Blue Book microfilm, and that some reports he forwarded under his contract do not appear in the Blue Book files.[^4] Hynek appeared in a cameo in the 1977 film [[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]], on which he was a consultant, and questionnaires of the Center were available in theater lobbies.[^4][^22]
His book [[The UFO Experience|The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry]] appeared in 1972, and in 1973 he started the Center for UFO Studies, serving as scientific director until his death in 1986 and naming [[Mark Rodeghier]] as his successor.[^2] Project 1947 states that the Center received most of the National Investigations Committee's files, that Hynek held a copy of the Blue Book microfilm, and that some reports he forwarded under his contract do not appear in the Blue Book files.[^4] Hynek appeared in a cameo in the 1977 film [[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]], on which he was a consultant, and questionnaires of the Center were available in theater lobbies.[^4][^24]
### Footnotes
@ -165,10 +165,12 @@ His book [[The UFO Experience|The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry]] appeare
[^13]: "Comments by Air Force Consultant, J. A. Hynek on Keyhoe's Article, January 1966 Issue of True Magazine," http://www.project1947.com/hynek/jah_dek_66true.htm.
[^14]: Condon, Section V, chapter 2, pp. 898-899, quoting the Air Force press release on the Dexter and Hillsdale investigation.
[^15]: Gerald R. Ford to Representatives George P. Miller and L. Mendel Rivers, 28 March 1966, with news release, Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers, Press Secretary and Speech File, Box D9, folder "Ford Press Releases - UFO, 1966," Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/library/document/0054/4525586.pdf.
[^16]: Condon, Section II, p. 21, and Appendix W, "Acknowledgments," http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/sec-ii.htm and http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/appndx-w.htm.
[^17]: Condon, Section II, "Summary of the Study," p. 24, http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/sec-ii.htm.
[^18]: Philip J. Klass, "The Condon UFO Study: A Trick or a Conspiracy?" The Skeptical Inquirer 10 (Summer 1986), quoting David R. Saunders and R. Roger Harkins, UFOs? Yes! Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong (Signet, 1968), https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1986/07/22165324/p42.pdf.
[^19]: Air Force action memorandum, 20 October 1969, paragraphs 1 and 5, http://www.nicap.org/Bolender_Memo.htm.
[^20]: J. Allen Hynek to Colonel George R. Weinbrenner, 3 March 1969, and "Preliminary Proposal for Subject Investigation," 14 March 1969, as hosted at http://www.project1947.com/hynek/jah_af_prop69.htm.
[^21]: Zeidman, "I Remember Blue Book," final sections.
[^22]: Siemons, "Time Capsule: A look at J. Allen Hynek," The Daily Northwestern, 7 March 2023.
[^16]: U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, *Unidentified Flying Objects: Hearing,* No. 85, 89th Cong., 2d sess., April 5, 1966 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1966). https://archive.org/details/ufo_1966_1
[^17]: Ford, Gerald R., letter and news release of March 28, 1966, Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers, Press Secretary and Speech File, Box D9, folder "Ford Press Releases - UFO, 1966," Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/library/document/0054/4525586.pdf
[^18]: Condon, Section II, p. 21, and Appendix W, "Acknowledgments," http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/sec-ii.htm and http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/appndx-w.htm.
[^19]: Condon, Section II, "Summary of the Study," p. 24, http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/sec-ii.htm.
[^20]: Philip J. Klass, "The Condon UFO Study: A Trick or a Conspiracy?" The Skeptical Inquirer 10 (Summer 1986), quoting David R. Saunders and R. Roger Harkins, UFOs? Yes! Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong (Signet, 1968), https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1986/07/22165324/p42.pdf.
[^21]: Air Force action memorandum, 20 October 1969, paragraphs 1 and 5, http://www.nicap.org/Bolender_Memo.htm.
[^22]: J. Allen Hynek to Colonel George R. Weinbrenner, 3 March 1969, and "Preliminary Proposal for Subject Investigation," 14 March 1969, as hosted at http://www.project1947.com/hynek/jah_af_prop69.htm.
[^23]: Zeidman, "I Remember Blue Book," final sections.
[^24]: Siemons, "Time Capsule: A look at J. Allen Hynek," The Daily Northwestern, 7 March 2023.