Joseph Allen Hynek
Dr. Josef Allen Hynek (May 1, 1910 – April 27, 1986) was a United States astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific adviser to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive names:
- Project Sign (1947–1949),
- Project Grudge (1949–1952), and
- Project Blue Book (1952 to 1969).
For decades afterwards, he conducted his own independent UFO research, developing the Close Encounter classification system (see below), and is widely considered the father of the concept of scientific analysis of both reports and, especially, trace evidence purportedly left by UFOs. (wikipedia)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek is well-known forhis Close Encounter Classification System:
- Distant Encounters:
- Nocturnal Lights (NL): Anomalous lights seen in the night sky.
- Daylight Discs (DD): Any anomalous object, generally but not necessarily "discoidal", seen in the distant daytime sky.
- Radar/Visual cases (RV): Objects seen simultaneously by eye and on radar.
- Close Encounters (I, II, and III):
- CE-I (Close Encounters of the First Kind): Strange objects seen nearby but without physical interaction with the environment.
- CE-II (Close Encounters of the Second Kind): A CE-I case that leaves physical evidence, e.g. soil depressions, vegetation damage, or causes electromagnetic interference.
- CE-III (Close Encounters of the Third Kind): CE-I or CE-II cases where occupants or entities are seen.
Hynek did NOT consider contact experiences cases of CE-III:
"In these cases [CE-III] the presence of 'occupants' in or about the UFO is reported. Here a sharp distinction must be made between cases involving reports of the presence of presumably intelligent beings in the 'spacecraft' and the so-called contactee cases. In general, the latter reports are "stopped at the gate" by the screening process…. Such persons not only frequently turn out to be pseudo religious fanatics but also invariably have a low credibility value, bringing us regular messages from the "space men" with singularly little content" [Hynek, The UFO Experience, p. 29.]