Spiritual Forum

Globally renowned astronomer, astrophysicist and designer of famous Pioneer 10 NASA Solar System Spacecraft Gold Plaque. 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.Renowned astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Carl Sagan revealed to Dr. J. Allen Hynek that he believed UFOs were real but avoided any public statements to prevent the loss of academic research funding. Dr. Allen J. Hynek confided his revelations about Dr Sagan to his former associate Paolo Harris who revealed this conversation recentlyIn 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. (All Experts)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. Why did his views change so dramatically? Did funding issues alone motivate him not to come forward publicly to declare his change-of-mind?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.