Hynek on the Robertson Panel's legacy
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic), Disinformation & hoaxes (topic) |
| People | J. Allen Hynek |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 87 |
| Year | 1979 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1979 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
Astronomer J. Allen Hynek, who attended the CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel in January 1953 as the Air Force's scientific consultant, said in later years that the panel's recommendations effectively set an unwritten rule for the Air Force to play the UFO subject down and to explain away cases wherever possible.[1][2]
The panel
The panel, chaired by physicist H. P. Robertson, met from 14 January 1953. Its members included Luis Alvarez, Samuel Goudsmit, Thornton Page and Lloyd Berkner; Hynek presented to it but was not a full member. It concluded unanimously that UFO reports showed no direct threat to national security and no evidence of extraterrestrial visitors, and recommended a public education campaign to reduce interest in UFOs, training to help personnel recognise false reports, monitoring of civilian UFO groups and removal of the "aura of mystery" around the subject.[1]
Hynek's view
Hynek later wrote that the panel had "made the subject of UFOs scientifically unrespectable". In The Hynek UFO Report (1977) and in interviews, he argued that the attitude it set shaped how Project Blue Book worked for the rest of its existence, Archive interviews with Hynek setting out these views appear in James Fox's documentary UFOs: I Know What I Saw.[1][3][4]
Context
The panel's full report was not made public until 1966, when a nearly complete version was published in the Saturday Review. By the late 1970s Hynek had become the most prominent scientific advocate of serious UFO research; he founded the Center for UFO Studies in 1973 and died in 1986.[1][4]
People and topics
- J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
- Robertson Panel — Robertson Panel
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Center for UFO Studies — The research center founded by J. Allen Hynek in 1973.
On the Timeline
- Samuel Stratton and the SAC base overflights (20 December 1978) — Rep. Samuel Stratton raises concerns over unknown aircraft flying over Strategic Air Command bases.
- Vallée's 1979 conclusions on government involvement (1979) — Vallée says he is convinced the government still monitors UAP groups and stages false sightings.
See every 1979 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Robertson Panel — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "UFOs: I Know What I Saw — a James Fox film" (YouTube) · youtube.com · archived copy
- J. Allen Hynek — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- J. Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report (1977) · barnesandnoble.com · archived copy
- youtube.com · youtube.com · 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
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · 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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