Hynek's The UFO Experience
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
| Date | May 1972 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | J. Allen Hynek |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 74 |
| Year | 1972 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1972 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry is a 1972 book by astronomer J. Allen Hynek, the Air Force's scientific consultant on UFOs for more than twenty years. It criticised Project Blue Book, proposed a scientific framework for studying UFO reports, and introduced the "close encounters" classification later made famous by Steven Spielberg's film.[1][2]
Background
Hynek, an astronomer at Ohio State and later Northwestern University, was consulted by the Air Force on Projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book from 1948 to 1969. He began as a skeptic who expected to explain sightings away but gradually became convinced that a small core of well-documented cases deserved serious scientific attention.[1]
Contents
The book was published by Henry Regnery of Chicago in 1972. Hynek sorted reports into six categories: three for distant sightings — nocturnal lights, daylight discs and radar-visual cases — and three kinds of "close encounters". Close encounters of the first kind were sightings at close range, the second kind involved physical effects such as traces on the ground or interference with vehicles, and the third kind involved reports of occupants. He also proposed rating each report on two scales, its "strangeness" and the "probability" that the witnesses were credible.[2][3]
Criticism of Blue Book
Hynek described Blue Book as underfunded, understaffed and more interested in finding explanations than in investigating, and said the scientific problem had been glossed over. The book reprinted his 1968 letter to Colonel Raymond Sleeper calling Blue Book's efforts "totally inadequate". He recalled that critics had nicknamed Blue Book "The Society for the Explanation of the Uninvestigated", praised Edward Ruppelt and Robert Friend as honest heads of the project, and accused Hector Quintanilla of disregarding evidence that ran counter to his hypotheses. He generally portrayed its failings as the result of indifference and bureaucracy rather than a deliberate conspiracy, though he acknowledged pressure to downplay the subject.[1][5]
Reception
The book received unusually serious attention for a UFO book. Kirkus Reviews found its argument heated and combative, while a review in Science noted the difficulty of discussing the subject responsibly; later reviewers in the Journal of Scientific Exploration called it perhaps the best UFO book ever written.[3][4]
Legacy
The close-encounters scheme gave its name to Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), on which Hynek advised and in which he made a cameo. In 1973 he founded the Center for UFO Studies in Evanston, Illinois, and in The Hynek UFO Report (1977) he went through Blue Book cases to show how they had been handled. He died in 1986.[1]
People and topics
- Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.
- J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book — The three successive Air Force UFO investigation projects from 1948 to 1969.
- Close encounter — Hynek's term for a UFO sighting at close range.
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind — Steven Spielberg's 1977 UFO film.
- Center for UFO Studies — The research center founded by J. Allen Hynek in 1973.
On the Timeline
- USS John F. Kennedy encounter (1971) (June/July 1971) — A Navy yeoman says the USS John F. Kennedy's systems failed during a UAP encounter in the Caribbean.
- Project Outgrowth (June 1972) — An Air Force propulsion lab report, Project Outgrowth, examines advanced propulsion ideas.
See every 1972 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- J. Allen Hynek — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry", Anomaly Archives · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Review of The UFO Experience, Journal of Scientific Exploration · journalofscientificexploration.org · archived copy
- "The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry", Kirkus Reviews · kirkusreviews.com · archived copy
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- The Hynek UFO Report (1977) · barnesandnoble.com · archived copy
- archive.org · archive.org · archived copy
- archive.org · archive.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- J. Allen Hynek — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- U.S. congressional hearings on UFOs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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