Research source

Jacques Vallée

Date of account: Repository revision bf0636323d
Source: UAP Gerb Video Database — open research notes
Reference: 04 Important Figures · contributor research note
Rights: open_licensed
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

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Ph.D. in computer science & master of science in astrophysics Computer scientist, author, ufologist, astronomer Born in Pontoise, Val-d’Oise, France (1939-Present)

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Ph.D. in computer science & master of science in astrophysics Computer scientist, author, ufologist, astronomer Born in Pontoise, Val-d’Oise, France (1939-Present) Jacques Vallée received his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Sorbonne, followed by his Master of Science in astrophysics from the University of Lille. He began his career as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in 1961. He moved to the United States in 1962 and began working in astronomy at the University of Texas, where he worked on NASA’s first project making a detailed informational map of Mars. In 1967, Vallée received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University. While at the Institute for the Future from 1972 to 1976, he was a principal investigator on the large NSF project for computer networking, which developed one of the first conferencing systems, Planning Network (PLANET), on the ARPANET. When I was beginning my career in science,” recalls Vallée, “the main argument against UFOs was that astronomers never saw them. I found that argument convincing.” Then, in 1961, he and other satellite trackers at the Paris Observatory detected something odd overhead. The project director erased the data tape before an orbit for the unidentified object could be computed. “I thought, here we are at a renowned institution, seeing something we can’t explain and destroying data for fear of ridicule. That, for me, reopened the entire question.” In the mid-1960s, like many other UFO researchers, Vallée initially attempted to validate the popular Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH). UFO researcher Jerome Clark argued that Vallée’s first two UFO books were among the most scientifically sophisticated defenses of the ETH ever mounted. However, by 1969, Vallée’s conclusions had changed, and he publicly stated the ETH was too narrow and ignored too much data. Vallée began exploring the commonalities between UFOs, cults, religious movements, demons, angels, ghosts, cryptid sightings, and psychic phenomena. Speculation about these potential links were first detailed in Vallée’s third UFO book, Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. Vallée’s views gradually became far more exotic and stranger than what he calls the reigning “nuts and bolts” approach to the subject. Consequently, he’s been attacked by believers and prominent ufologists so often that he jokingly refers to himself a “heretic among heretics.” As Vallée puts it, “I will be disappointed if UFOs turn out to be nothing more than spaceships.” Vallée is often highly critical of UFO investigators overall, both believers and skeptics, 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 often pointed out logical and methodological flaws common in such research. Unlike many critics of UFO investigative efforts, his critiques are not condescending or dismissive and he indicates that he is simply interested in good science. Vallée served as the real-life model for the character portrayed by Francois Truffaut in Steven Spielberg’s film Close Encounters of the Third

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