Jacques Vallee

Dr. Jacques F. Vallee has long been regarded as the most respected and senior scientific investigator of unidentified aerial phenomena. He was the inspiration for the French UFO researcher in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He has investigated reports of UFOs all over the world and has worked on related U.S. and French government projects. He is currently working on a project to analyze UFO materials in a Silicon Valley lab. Vallee studied mathematics at the Sorbonne and received an MS in astrophysics at Lille University, then began his professional life as an astronomer for the French Space Committee, working at Paris Observatory. In 1962 he began working as an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin, where he co-developed the first computer-based detailed map of Mars for NASA. He then moved to Northwestern University where he earned a PhD in artificial intelligence and served as a close associate of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the U.S. Air Force’s top scientific consultant on UFOs under Project Blue Book. He went on to work for Hynek and Project Blue Book to create the first interactive computer data base of UFO observations. In the late 60’s, Vallee began exploring the commonalities between UFOs, the paranormal, and folklore. His observations were detailed in his book, Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers, in which he suggested a multidimensional hypothesis. In the 70’s, Vallee served as one of the Principal investigators of DARPA and led the team which built the world's first software collaboration system, running on Arpanet, the prototype for the Internet. Joining Stanford Research Institute and the Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley, Vallee formed friendships with Hal Puthoff, Russell Targ, and Kit Green and consulted on SRI’s classified remote viewing programs (including the Stargate Project), which were supported by several government agencies. In 1978, Vallee was part of a panel of experts (which included NASA Astronaut Gordon Cooper, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, military and government officials) that presented a plan for UFO research at the United Nations. In the early 2000’s, Vallee co-founded a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. He also worked as a member of the scientific advisory board of Bigelow Aerospace and conducted private research for Bigelow and its partners, including the Pentagon’s now de-classified UFO program known as AATIP. Vallee has written two dozen books, including Passport to Magonia, Wonders in the Sky, Dimensions, Forbidden Science, and The Invisible College.