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May 2010
from
UFO-Blogger Website
Globally renowned astronomer,
astrophysicist and designer of famous Pioneer 10 NASA Solar System
Spacecraft Gold Plaque (far below image.) He had also head the committee to select the
contents for
Voyager Golden Record.
He is so well respected in scientific community till this date and
Nasa even named their 2008 'Study of Extraterrestrial Worlds
scholarship' after Mr Sagan.
The pillar of modern space science Dr.
Carl Sagan revealed to Dr. J.
Allen Hynek that he believed UFOs were real.
Sagan said to Hynek,
that he knew UFOs were real but could not talk publicly about the
matter and possibly risk the loss of academic funding.
Dr.
J. Allen Hynek confided his revelations about Dr Sagan to his
former associate Paola Harris who revealed this conversation
recently
In an interview with research journalist and author Paola Leopizzi-Harris
she said:
"My recollection is that Hynek said
it was backstage of one of the many Johnny Carson Tonight shows
Sagan did. He basically said (to Hynek) in 1984,
'I know UFOs
are real, but I would not risk my research (College) funding, as
you do, to talk openly about them in public'."
This startling revelation about Carl
Sagan, one of this century's most esteemed scientists and writers,
has now been made public by Paola Leopizzi-Harris, a former
associate of Dr. Allen J. Hynek who worked with him from 1980 to
1985.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek served as a civilian scientific consultant to the
U.S. Air Force
Project Blue Book from 1952 to 1969, initially taking
a very critical and skeptical position on anything related to the
reality of UFOs.
In one of his own reports he stated:
"I had started out as
an outright 'debunker,' taking great joy in cracking what seemed
at first to be puzzling cases. I was the arch-enemy of those
'flying saucer groups and enthusiasts' who very dearly wanted
UFOs to be interplanetary."
(Hynek, J. Allen. "The Hynek UFO
Report". Dell Publishing Co. 1977)
After leaving Project Blue Book -
the U.S. Air Force's pseudo-investigatory public relations scheme on
UFOs - Hynek later wrote:
"Now, however, documentation which
puts the UFO-U.S. government controversy in quite a new light
has become available.
The (UFO) authors have made revealing use
of documents released through the mechanism of the Freedom of
Information Act and other data which have been made available to
them… which show that the
CIA and
NSA protestations of innocence
and lack of interest in UFOs are nothing short of
prevarication."
Hynek went on to say:
"For the
government to continue to maintain that UFOs are nonexistent in the
face of the documents already released and of other cogent evidence
presented in this book is puerile and in a sense an insult to the
American people."
("The UFO Cover-Up" - Fireside books, Simon &
Schuster 1984)
Hynek's credentials are indeed impressive, having consulted on the
Stephen Spielberg movie 'Close Encounters'. As well he presented a
paper on UFOs at the UN in 1978.
Sagan's link to UFOs and possibly to Dr. Hynek occurred in 1966 when
Sagan was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue
Book.
This committee concluded that the U.S. Air Force's Project
Blue Book had been lacking as a scientific study, and recommended a
university-based project to give the UFO phenomenon closer
scientific scrutiny.
In scientific circles much of Sagan's notoriety came from debates
conducted under the auspices of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS).
In 1969 he challenged J. Allen Hynek
on whether investigations of unidentified flying objects should be
considered serious.
Hynek argued 'yes', Sagan 'no' (NNDB)...
Sagan was a prolific writer of some 20 books including 'Contact'
-
eventually made into a movie staring Jodie Foster. Sagan also hosted
the brilliantly crafted and highly popular series
'COSMOS - A Personal Voyage.'
In Episode 12: "Encyclopedia Galactica",
Sagan explored UFOs and
alien abductions while also including
'refutations' on
UFOs.
In a statement at the 1968 Congressional Hearings before the House
Committee on Science and Astronautics - U.S. House of
Representatives Carl Sagan stated:
"As I understand what the committee
would like from me, is a discussion of the likelihood of
intelligent extraterrestrial life… clearly it is the hypothesis
that unidentified objects are of extraterrestrial origin which
the committee must have in mind.
I'm delighted to tell about
contemporary scientific thinking along these lines, but let me
begin by saying that I do not think the evidence is at all
persuasive, that
UFO's are of intelligent extraterrestrial
origin..."
Sagan's confidential conversation with
Dr. Hynek in 1984 appears to not only contradict this statement to
the House Committee in 1968, Sagan's new found view - that UFOs were
real - clearly did not play any role in Sagan's later highly
successful public work.
This revelation by Paola Leopizzi-Harris appears to raise serious
scientific discrepancies concerning Sagan's public verses private
beliefs about the nature of UFOs and Extraterrestrial life.
It appears, therefore that Carl Sagan presumably embarked upon his
many television appearances, consulting on major television and
Hollywood feature productions as well as his own academic writing
while professing one public scientific point of view, yet
maintaining a significantly contradictory personal belief:
"I know UFOs are real…" as told to
Dr. J. Allen Hynek in 1984 according to Paola Leopizzi-Harris.
In later years Sagan also heavily
promoted SETI - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which
discounts UFOs as an ET reality - advancing the theory that
listening for signals from deep space may help locate intelligent ET
civilizations.
It is unknown how long Sagan held this personal view or when and
what changed his mind - future disclosures may reveal this.
That
Sagan presented much of his finest and most popular work outside the
context of his personal belief that UFOs were real remains a salient
incongruity for a man of Sagan's stature, obvious integrity and
celebratory contributions to humanity and science.
One can only speculate upon why, during the period between Sagan's
initial statement in 1968 and all during his now legendary writings
and media productions, Sagan continued to espouse critical views on
the reality of UFOs.
This revelation made to Paola Leopizzi-Harris by a
well-respected scientific figure like Dr. J. Allen Hynek
alters if not the magnificent quality of Sagan's work but
re-constructs his considerable scientific influence on the
mainstream scientific theories about the universe, the intelligent
nature of UFOs and Extraterrestrial life.
How will mainstream science respond knowing now that a corner stone
of modern science and one of its most revered members is now
recognized as to have conceded - UFOs are real...
Carl Sagan famous speech
"We Are Here - The Pale Blue Dot"
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