Jacques Vallée

Jacques Vallée

Type	Person
Also known as	Vallée, Jacques Vallee
On the Timeline	94 events, 1953–2023

Jacques Fabrice Vallée (born 1939) is a French-born American computer scientist, astronomer, venture capitalist and author, and one of the most influential researchers of unidentified flying objects. He worked with J. Allen Hynek in the 1960s, contributed to early computer networking, and developed influential ideas linking UFO reports to folklore and religious experience.^[1]

Early life and astronomy

Vallée was born in Pontoise, France. He earned a degree in mathematics at the University of Paris in 1959 and a master's-level degree in astrophysics at the University of Lille in 1961. In 1961 he also published a science-fiction novel, Le Sub-espace, under the pen name Jérôme Sériel, which won the Jules Verne Prize. He worked as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory, where, by his account, staff discarded tracking tapes of an unexplained satellite-like object. He reports having seen a UFO over Pontoise in 1955.^[1]

In 1962 he moved to the United States to work with astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs at the University of Texas and McDonald Observatory, where they compiled an early detailed map of Mars for NASA.^[1]

Computing career

In 1963 Vallée moved to Chicago, working as a systems analyst at Northwestern University while researching UFOs with Hynek. He received a PhD in computer science from Northwestern in 1967. He later managed information systems at Stanford's computer centre and in 1971 joined Douglas Engelbart's Augmentation Research Center at SRI. At the Institute for the Future (1972–1976) he led a National Science Foundation project that produced PLANET, an early conferencing system on the ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet, and in 1976 he founded InfoMedia to sell it.^[1][2]

Venture capital

After InfoMedia was sold in 1983, Vallée became a venture capitalist, first with Sofinnova and then, from 1987 to 2010, as a general partner in Silicon Valley funds including Euro-America Ventures. He has been credited with early investments in more than a dozen companies that later went public.^[1]

UFO research and ideas

Vallée's early books, such as Anatomy of a Phenomenon (1965), treated UFOs as a scientific problem. By 1969, in Passport to Magonia, he had concluded that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was too narrow, noting strong parallels between modern encounter reports and older stories of fairies, demons and religious visions. He proposed instead that the phenomenon might involve other dimensions or a form of intelligence that interacts with human belief.^[1] In a 1990 paper, "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects", he argued among other things that close encounters are far more numerous than any physical survey of Earth would need.^[3] In Messengers of Deception (1979) he warned that human groups, including cults and possibly intelligence agencies, manipulate UFO beliefs.^[1]

He was consulted on classified remote-viewing research in the 1970s and 1980s, served on the science board of Robert Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science, and in 2022 co-authored a peer-reviewed paper with Stanford's Garry Nolan on techniques for analysing unusual materials, including a sample linked to a 1977 event in Council Bluffs, Iowa.^[1][4] His published journals, the Forbidden Science series, are a major source for the inside history of UFO research.^[1]

Legacy

Vallée was the inspiration for Claude Lacombe, the French scientist played by François Truffaut in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). In 2014 his research collection became the founding archive of Rice University's Archives of the Impossible, created by religious studies professor Jeffrey Kripal.^[1][5] He was married to Janine Saley from 1960 until her death in 2010.^[1]

On the UAP Timeline

• Pentacle memo (9 January 1953) — A Battelle scientist suggests using Project Stork to reassure the public that everything is under control.
• Douglas Aircraft unconventional propulsion study (1955) — An aerospace executive claims he worked in a UAP group at Douglas Aircraft from 1955.
• Martin Marietta engineer's papers (1965) (17 May 1965) — Jacques Vallée says a Martin Marietta engineer was upset when his papers were seen.
• Request for Vallée's best cases (1966) (23 July 1966) — Vallée receives a request from engineers to send their best cases to unnamed Wright Field scientists.
• National Bureau of Standards 1943 UFO claim (1969) — A former intelligence officer tells Vallée the National Bureau of Standards studied UAP as early as 1943.
• Puthoff's report of a new secret study (1972) (7 October 1972) — Hal Puthoff tells Vallée a former NSA colleague said a new secret UAP study was underway.
• Howell McConnell and post-Blue Book analysis (28 October 1972) — An NSA official tells Vallée a Wright-Patterson office kept secretly analyzing UAP after Blue Book.
• Secret project asks about remote viewing (1973) (27 October 1973) — Puthoff tells Vallée a secret UAP project with an official charter asked about remote viewing.
• Vallée meets Kit Green (1974) (11 February 1974) — Vallée meets Kit Green, who describes officials interested in UAP.
• Twelve officials to study UFOs (1974) (2 June 1974) — Puthoff relays that 12 senior officials have decided to focus on UAP study.
• Vallée's doubts about Kit Green (1974) (16 June 1974) — Vallée wonders whether his UAP talks with Kit Green are a CIA cover story.
• Midwest engineers group claim (1974) (10 December 1974) — Kit Green tells Vallée 15 engineers in the Midwest secretly research UAP for the CIA.
• Rumsfeld's "no need to know" remark (13 April 1975) — Hynek says Donald Rumsfeld told him he had no need to know about any secret UAP study.
• McDonnell Douglas close-encounter database (1978) (5 January 1978) — A McDonnell Douglas engineer tells Vallée of a well-funded secret UAP project.
• McDonnell Douglas caller to Vallée (1978) (8 June 1978) — A McDonnell Douglas caller tells Vallée a secret UAP project is monitored by the CIA.
• United Nations decision 33/426 (8 December 1978) — A UN draft resolution to create a UAP study body fails; Hynek and Vallée speak at the UN.
• Vallée's 1979 conclusions on government involvement (1979) — Vallée says he is convinced the government still monitors UAP groups and stages false sightings.
• Richard Haines's conviction about a secret project (1982) (6 April 1982) — NASA scientist Richard Haines tells Vallée he is sure a secret government UAP project exists.
• Sandia uncle crashed saucer story (1982) (29 September 1982) — Puthoff relays a story of a scientist who studied a crashed saucer and copied an antigravity device.
• Saucer-like helicopters claim (1984) (11 March 1984) — Kit Green tells Vallée some military helicopters were designed to look like flying saucers.
• Advanced Theoretical Physics group (20 May 1985) — A secure facility hosts a conference on whether UAP evidence supports a research program.
• Richard Niemtzow's Toulouse remarks (1985) (6 July 1985) — A retired Air Force colonel tells Vallée there is a secret government UAP project.
• Wild Weasel UFO detections claim (22 June 1986) — A former contractor tells Vallée Vietnam-era aircraft detected UAP with special equipment.
• Steve Millard's Silicon Valley study group (10 November 1986) — A Silicon Valley investor hosts a private UAP study group including Vallée.
• Kit Green on MJ-12 (1988) (23 October 1988) — Kit Green tells Vallée that 'MJ12' was real.
• Puthoff on tracking the phenomenon (1989) (11 July 1989) — Puthoff tells Vallée nobody seems to be tracking the phenomenon properly.
• Vallée on the disinformation campaign (1989) (17 September 1989) — Vallée writes there is a large disinformation campaign around UAP.
• TRESTLE facility and Ron Blackburn (1990) — A Lockheed engineer tells Vallée he helped build the TRESTLE facility.
• C. Richard D'Amato's warning to Vallée (1991) (1991) — Senate counsel Dick D'Amato tells Vallée that a secretive group spreading false information is breaking the law.
• Roper Organization abduction survey (1991) (22 May 1991) — Vallée says Liechtenstein's prince funded a study of alien abduction claims through Robert Bigelow.
• Vallée meets D'Amato on secret programs (1992) (22 May 1992) — Vallée writes he met Senate counsel Dick D'Amato about secret programs.
• Edward Dudgeon and the Philadelphia Navy Yard (1994) — A Navy veteran tells Vallée about his time at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
• Hynek autopsy rumor (1994) (26 February 1994) — Vallée and a filmmaker discuss a rumor about Hynek and autopsies, calling it disinformation.
• Laurance Rockefeller's two UFO projects (10 December 1994) — Vallée says Laurance Rockefeller funded two UAP projects.
• Clinton witness order claim (1995) (31 March 1995) — Vallée says he was told President Clinton signed an order protecting certain witnesses.
• Bigelow recruits consciousness experts (1996) (7 January 1996) — Bigelow tells Vallée he is hiring experts on consciousness.
• Las Vegas data-gathering meeting (1996) (28 January 1996) — Military, scientific and corporate figures meet in Las Vegas about gathering UAP data.
• Corso's doubts about autopsy reports (1997) (13 January 1997) — Philip Corso tells Vallée he may have received disinformation about alien autopsies.
• Bigelow's expectation of a UFO announcement (1998) (11 January 1998) — Bigelow tells Vallée he feels a dramatic UAP development is coming soon.
• Bigelow's contact contingency planning (1999) (8 January 1999) — Bigelow discusses the need for a plan if alien contact were confirmed.
• Puthoff–Green emails on a pseudonymous article (31 July 1999) — Puthoff emails Kit Green about a UFO magazine story.
• Proposal for a new Project Blue Book (2000) (24 January 2000) — Bigelow tells Vallée of an idea to push Congress for a new Project Blue Book.
• Henry Dakin's San Francisco building (20 February 2000) — Vallée describes a building in San Francisco renting to paranormal research groups.
• Former TRW employee reverse-engineering claim (8 May 2000) — Vallée, Davis and Puthoff discuss a claim of a secret reverse-engineering project at a contractor.
• Kit Green's three landings briefing claim (8 May 2000) — They also discuss Kit Green's claim of a briefing on three alien landings.
• Pentagon audit discovery story (2000) (9 May 2000) — Puthoff tells Vallée a story about a secret program uncovered in a Pentagon audit.
• Army helicopters and cattle mutilations (2001) (24 February 2001) — Vallée hears of cattle mutilations linked to Army helicopters.
• Project Zodiac (3 March 2001) — Eric Davis tells Vallée about a story called 'Zodiac' involving real researchers.
• Westwood on MJ-12 disinformation (2001) (5 May 2001) — A consultant tells Vallée the MJ-12 documents are disinformation.
• Howard Cross's own sighting (17 December 2001) — A researcher finds a Blue Book file showing a Battelle scientist reported his own sighting.
• Niemtzow declines McDonnell study (10 January 2002) — A retired colonel tells Vallée he declined to join a secret McDonnell UAP study.
• Disguised UFO sensor network claim (2 March 2002) — Kit Green says hidden UAP sensors were disguised as environmental monitoring stations.
• Flickinger autopsy material claim (5 March 2002) — Kit Green says an Air Force physician told him he saw alien autopsy material.
• Vallée on privatized UFO research (2002) (6 May 2002) — Vallée writes that UFO research has likely been privatized in the U.S.
• Alexander's A-12 explanation for Holloman (11 May 2002) — Col. John Alexander says the Holloman landing story covered up a failed spy-plane test.
• Jean Kisling's airline stranger (29 June 2002) — A French officer tells Vallée a stranger on a 1950s flight claimed to work on recovered craft.
• Norton AFB UFO files claim (1 September 2002) — A couple tells Vallée they saw a large collection of UFO files at Norton AFB in 1985.
• Peter Sturrock on zero-point energy (2003) (22 March 2003) — Stanford's Peter Sturrock tells Vallée he doubts Puthoff's zero-point energy work.
• Socorro rock analysis (3 May 2003) — Kit Green says rock from the 1964 Socorro landing was analyzed at NASA Goddard.
• Larry Lemke's father and unusual hardware (11 June 2003) — A NASA engineer says his father worked on hardware that seemed to come from beyond Earth.

…and 34 more.

References