Jacques Vallee

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Dr. Jacques F. Vallee (born September 24, 1939) is a French-born ufologist, computer scientist, and former astronomer, currently residing in San Francisco, United States. (He should not be confused with the Canadian astronomer Jacques P. Vallée.)

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Life and Career

Dr. Vallee was born in Pontoise, France. He received his B.S. degree in mathematics from the Sorbonne, followed by his M.S. in astrophysics from the University of Lille. He began his professional life as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in 1961.

He came to the United States in 1962 and began working in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. He worked at MacDonald Observatory on NASA's first project making a detailed informational map of Mars.

In 1967 Vallee received a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University. He was a principal investigator on the large NSF project for computer networking, which developed the first conferencing system on the ARPANET many years before the Internet was formed.

He has also served on the National Advisory Committee of the University of Michigan College of Engineering and was involved in early work on artificial intelligence.

Dr. Vallee has authored four books on high technology, including Computer Message Systems, Electronic Meetings, The Network Revolution, and The Heart of the Internet.

Along with his mentor, astronomer J. Allen Hynek, Dr. Vallee carefully studied the problem of UFOs for many years and served as the real-life model for the character portrayed by François Truffaut in Steven Spielberg’s film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

His research has taken him to countries all over the world. Considered one of the leading experts in UFO phenomena, Vallee has written several well-respected scientific books on the subject.

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UFO Research and Academic Work

In May 1955, Vallee first sighted a flying saucer over his Pontoise home. Six years later in 1961, while working on the staff of the French Space Committee, Vallee witnessed the destruction of the tracking tapes of unknown objects orbiting the earth. These events contributed to Vallee's long-standing interest in the UFO phenomenon.

In the mid 1960s, like many other UFO researchers, Vallee initially attempted to validate the popular extraterrestrial hypothesis. However, by 1969, his conclusions had changed, and he publicly stated that the ET hypothesis (or "ETH") was untenable.

Dr. Vallee began exploring the commonalities between UFOs, cults, religious movements, angels, ghosts, creature sightings, and psychic phenomena. These links were first detailed in Vallee's third UFO book, Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers.

As an alternative to the extraterrestrial visitation hypothesis, Vallee has suggested a multidimensional visitation hypothesis. This hypothesis represents an extension of the ETH where the "Extraterrestrials" could be potentially from anywhere. The entities could be multidimensional beyond space-time, and thus could coexist with humans, yet remain undetected.

Vallee's opposition to the popular ETI hypothesis was not well received by mainstream U.S. ufologists, hence he was viewed as something of an outcast. Indeed, Vallee refers to himself as a "heretic among heretics".

Vallee's opposition to the ETH theory is summarised in his paper, "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 1990:

"Scientific opinion has generally followed public opinion in the belief that unidentified flying objects either do not exist (the "natural phenomena hypothesis") or, if they do, must represent evidence of a visitation by some advanced race of space travellers (the extraterrestrial hypothesis or "ETH"). It is the view of the author that research on UFOs need not be restricted to these two alternatives. On the contrary, the accumulated data base exhibits several patterns tending to indicate that UFOs are real, represent a previously unrecognized phenomenon, and that the facts do not support the common concept of "space visitors." Five specific arguments articulated here contradict the ETH:

  • (1) unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth;
  • (2) the humanoid body structure of the alleged "aliens" is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel;
  • (3) the reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race;
  • (4) the extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded human history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon; and
  • (5) the apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives."

In 1988, Jacques and Janine Vallee went to South America to investigate the numerous reports of UFO-related fatalities and injuries. The results of their field investigations are documented in Vallee's book Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact. For example, in central Brazil, Vallee reports that at least five people are reported to have died "following close encounters with what were described as boxlike UFOs equipped with powerful light beams." Many victims were hunters who had climbed into jungle trees at night in order to wait for passing animals that they could shoot. Instead, the hunters had themselves been hunted by "Chupas" (UFOs), which either injured or killed them using intense concentrated light beams. As Vallee reports, these chupas "are said to make a humming sound like a refrigerator or a transformer." [1]

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UFO Documentary Film Apperance

In 1979, Robert Emenegger and Alan Sandler updated their 1974 UFOs, Past, Present and Future documentary with new footage narrated by Jacques Vallee. The updated version is entitled "UFOs: It Has Begun".

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Vallee's Interpretation of the UFO Evidence

Dr. Vallee proposes that there is a genuine UFO phenomenon, which is associated with a form of nonhuman consciousness that manipulates space and time. The phenomenon has been active throughout human history, and seems to masquerade in various forms to different cultures.

In his opinion, this group has a highly militaristic organizational hierarchy, which attempts to influence and guide human societal views, by often relaying erroneous information to humans with whom they interact. Vallee mentions in his books that many of the activities fit descriptions of demonic spirits and their activities in religious books such as the Bible, but he takes no position on whether the UFO entities are the same as biblical demons.

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Vallee's View of UFO Investigative Efforts

Vallee is often highly critical of UFO investigators overall, both believers and sceptics, asserting that what often passes for an acceptable level of investigation in a UFO context would be considered sloppy and seriously inadequate investigation in other fields. He has written pointing out logical flaws and methodological flaws common in such research. Unlike many critics of UFO investigative efforts, his critiques are not condescending and dismissive and he indicates that he is simply interested in good science.

Some of Vallee's critics, however, contend that he is guilty of relying on the same inadequate methodologies that he accuses other UFO investigators of using.

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Books authored


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Finance

  • Jacques Vallee 2001 The Four Elements of Financial Alchemy: A New Formula for Personal Prosperity 1st ed. (paperback) Ten Speed Press ISBN 1580082181
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Novel

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Technical books

  • 1984 Computer Message Systems hardcover ed. McGraw-Hill (Data Communications Book Series) ISBN 0070510318
  • Robert Johansen, Valles, Jacques and Spangler, Kathi 1979 Electronic Meetings: Technical Alternatives 1st ed. hardcover (Addison-Wesley Series on Decision Support) ISBN 0201034786
  • The Network Revolution
  • The Heart of the Internet
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UFO books

  • Anatomy of a phenomenon: unidentified objects in space--a scientific appraisal 1st ed. (hardcover) 1965 NTC/Contemporary Publishing ISBN 0809298880
Reissue: UFO's In Space: Anatomy of A Phenomenon reissue (paperback) 1987 Ballantine Books ISBN 0345344375
  • Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma - with Janine Vallee 1966
  • Passport to Magonia: From folklore to Flying Saucers 1969 Henry Regnery Co.
  • The Invisible College : What a Group of Scientists Has Discovered About UFO Influences on the Human Race 1975 1st ed.
  • Jacques Vallee and Dr. J. Allen Hynek The Edge of Reality 1975
  • Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults 1979 paperback Ronin Publ. ISBN 0915904381
  • Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact 1988 1st ed. Contemporary Books ISBN 0809245868
  • Confrontations - A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact 1st ed. hardcover 1990 Ballantine Books ISBN 0345364538
  • Revelations : Alien Contact and Human Deception 1st ed. hardcover 1991Ballantine Books ISBN 0345371720
  • UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union : A Cosmic Samizdat 1992
  • Forbidden Science: Journals, 1957-1969 1992
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Research papers

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Film Appearances

  • UFOs: It Has Begun (1979)
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See also

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External links

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