Section A · Scientific researchers (historical) · 1910–1986
J. Allen Hynek
Primary framework: Plurality (corpus position)
PhD in astrophysics, Ohio State + scientific consultant to Project Sign/Grudge/Blue Book (1948-1969)
U.S. Government work · Public domain
Biography
An astrophysicist who began as an official debunker for the US Air Force and, after two decades reviewing cases, publicly shifted toward the position that the phenomenon deserved serious study; in 1973 he founded his own research center (CUFOS). His classification of 'close encounters' (of the first, second and third kind) is the implicit basis of the tier system that organizes this corpus.
Why they're here · 1 pieces
- 1972
The UFO Experience
CE1/CE2/CE3 system — classification of close encounters
Sources
- J. Allen Hynek, 'The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry' (1972) — Defines the close-encounters classification.
Associated cases (3)
Socorro (Zamora)· 1964
On 24 April 1964, police officer Lonnie Zamora broke off a chase to investigate a white egg-shaped object resting on legs, with two small figures nearby, outside Socorro, New Mexico. Project Blue Book classified it "Unknown", with landing marks and scorched vegetation verified on site by Hynek, who cited it as the case that changed his stance.
Valensole· 1965
Farmer Maurice Masse was paralyzed by a device aimed at him by a figure beside an object resting in his lavender field; the Gendarmerie documented persistent geometric ground marks and the witness's physical effects lasted for months. CNES keeps the case unexplained.
Hudson Valley Boomerang· 1983–86
Between 1983 and 1986, some 5,000 people across the Hudson Valley (New York and Connecticut) reported a large, silent triangular object with structured lights —the "Westchester Boomerang"— among them IBM engineers, state police and FAA controllers. It is the most-witnessed sustained UAP event in the U.S., cited without dispute by NICAP, CUFOS and MUFON.
Synthesized bio from the UAP disclosure ecosystem — categorized by epistemological section (A-F).