Balder Ex-Libris

Author : Vallée Jacques
Title : Forbidden Science
Year : 1992

Link download : Vallee_Jacques_-_Forbidden_Science.zip

lt is unusual for scientists to keep diaries and even more unusual for them to make them public. While we know much about the intimate lives and personal motivations of musicians, movie stars and literary figures, the day-to-day life of scientists remains carefully veiled, as if science somehow arose spontaneously by a process which superseded the mere activities of mortals. Like most of my colleagues, I have followed this rule of silence for the last thirty years, never expecting that these Journals would be published before my death. But I have finally decided that I had no right to keep them private any more. Although they contain many passages that are very personal and some that are painful, they also provide a primary source about a crucial fact in the recent historical record: the appearance of new classes of phenomena that highlighted the reality of the paranormal. These phenomena were deliberately denied or distorted by those in authority within the government and the military. Science never had fair and complete access to the most important files. This fact has been alleged before, but never proven. The present book proves it. Publication was not considered when the pages of these Journals slowly accumulated in the form of copybooks, loose pages, letters and marginal notes. I simply regarded it as a useful intellectual and spiritual discipline to review for myself the events of each period, if not those of each day. At first this exercise helped me cope with the uncertainties and the rapid changes in my life as a student in France. Later, when I moved to the United States, the Journal became a confidant and, more importantly, an adviser, a crystal ball, a tool to interrogate the future and to explore its potential. It turns out that the thirteen years covered here, from 1957 to 1969, saw some of the most exciting events in technological history: the first space adventures, the rise of the computer, the electronic revolution, the invention of advanced software, the flight to the moon, the first detailed images of other planets. As a young scientist I was a minor contributor to some of these events, an avidly interested observer of others. These developments which changed our world are well-documented in countless books. Behind the grand parade of the visible breakthroughs in science, however, more private mysteries were also taking place. The paranormal, with its claims and counter-claims about telepathy, dowsing, astrology, healing and other effects, was a matter of sharp debate and secret passion among believers and skeptics. And there were even more exciting events taking place: all over the world people had begun to observe what they described as controlled devices in the sky. They were shaped like saucers or spheres. They seemed to violate every known principle in our physics. Did these objects constitute the first signal of imminent contact with alien civilizations from outer space at a time when we were designing our own space probes? Governments took notice, organizing task forces, encouraging secret briefings and study groups, funding classified research . . . and all the time denying before the public that any of the phenomena might be real. What the media and the scientific world were told by those responsible for public welfare had little to do with what was happening. Anyone reviewing that period and looking solely at the official story will have no chance of coming to grips with the truth about the unfolding drama. In fact, the major revelation of these Diaries may be the demonstration of how the scientific community was misled by the government, how the best data were kept hidden, and how the public record was shamelessly manipulated. Witnesses of the strange occurrences numbered in the millions. But the study of their observations had been forcefully driven underground. It had turned into a fascinating discipline in a hypocritical modern world that claimed rational thought and open inquiry as its highest standard: it had become a Forbidden Science. No reminiscences of that era can be credible unless they are supported by the daily record of conversations, meetings and research results made by a participant in the actual events. I kept such a record and I was such a participant, first as a direct witness to the phenomenon in 1955, then as a French Government astronomer, and later as a computer scientist who played a significant role in detecting and publishing some of the major patterns behind the mystery and in arguing for its reality. In that phase of my work I was a close associate of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the man who was scientific consultant for the U.S. Air Force on the UFO problem for nearly a quarter century, specifically from 1947 to 1969. Several factors make it important to bring these notes, however personal and fragmentary, to the attention of the public. Only one book was published by a professional historian who took an interest in the field, but it is marred by distortions and errors of omission. And there is a growing misunderstanding of the actual role played by Dr. Hynek in the study of unidentified flying objects. Allen Hynek liked to remind us that beyond today's science there would be a twenty-first century science that would have to take into account phenomena that seemed paranormal to us simply because of our parochial mental attitudes and the limitations of what he aptly called our cultural provincialism. I hope to bring him back to life here, along with Dr. James McDonald and other figures of that era. The record stops twenty years ago, as I arrived in California where I now live with my family. I have augmented it with an Epilogue that brings the reader up to the present. Indeed, many important events that have taken place in the intervening period throw new light on the theories I formed before 1969. Some of these theories have turned out to be quite accurate; some were wrong, and the true facts were only revealed later. Other facts are still hidden. When they eventually come to the surface, as they must, it is my hope that this statement of the early years of our research into Forbidden Science may serve to highlight their true significance. I fully recognize that this is only one man's perspective on a series of very complex events. Because this book is a compilation of diaries, it contains opinions that are no longer mine and judgments I now regret, along with much evidence of mistakes I made along the way. I owe many thanks to Janine, to Richard Grossinger and especially to Lindy Hough at North Atlantic Books for their guidance in editing, pruning and streamlining the text. However it was not appropriate, of course, to change the record. At this late date I can only beg the forgiveness of those who may eel that my pen, often "hurriedly dipped in the inkwell of frustration," was overly rash. Jacques Vallee San Francisco, January 1992. ...