Mark O’Connell

The Close Encounters Man: How One Man Made the World believe in UFOs

Wednesday, July 26th, 2017 at 7:30 pm EDT, join Supernatural Girlz host Patricia Baker and co-host PK for another NEW show with author Mark O’Connell as he brings us into the world of J. Allen Hynek.

After years of debunking UFOs Hynek made a shocking statement: UFOs are real.

Thirty years after his death, Hynek’s transformation from skeptic to true believer remains one of the great misunderstood stories of science. Author Mark O’Connell reveals how Hynek’s work as a celebrated astronomer and as the Air Force’s go-to UFO expert for 20 years stretched the boundaries of modern science, laid the groundwork for the possibility of UFOs and was the basis of the film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Don’t miss this show!!

MARK O’CONNELL

Mark O’Connell is a screenwriter, teacher, and blogger. He wrote episodes for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and has developed feature film projects with major studios, including Walt Disney and DreamWorks Animation. He is also the founder of the UFO blog High Strangeness. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Monica, and teaches screenwriting at DePaul University in Chicago.

The Close Encounters Man: How One Man Made the World Believe in UFOs

The wildly entertaining and eye-opening biography of J. Allen Hynek, the astronomer who invented the concept of “Close Encounters” with alien life, inspired Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster classic science fiction epic film, and made a nation want to believe in UFOs.

In June 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold looked out his cockpit window and saw a group of nine silvery crescents weaving between the peaks of the Cascade Mountains at an estimated 1,200 miles an hour. The media, the military, and the scientific community—led by J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer hired by the Air Force—debunked this and many other Unidentified Flying Object sightings reported across the country. But after years of denials, Hynek made a shocking pronouncement: UFOs are real.

Thirty years after his death, Hynek’s agonizing transformation from skepticism to true believer remains one of the great misunderstood stories of science. In this definitive biography, Mark O’Connell reveals for the first time how Hynek’s work both as a celebrated astronomer and as the U. S. Air Force’s go-to UFO expert for nearly twenty years stretched the boundaries of modern science, laid the groundwork for acceptance of the possibility of UFOs, and was the basis of the hit film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. With unprecedented access to Hynek’s personal and professional files, O’Connell smashes conventional wisdom to reveal the intriguing man and scientist beneath the legend.

Tracing Hynek’s career, O’Connell examines Hynek’s often-ignored work as a professional astronomer to create a complete portrait of a groundbreaking enthusiast who became an American cult icon and transformed the way we see our world and our universe. – Book Link

Listen to Mark O’Connell’s interview & catch up on all the other shows by joining our IRN Insider program!

The post Mark O’Connell appeared first on Inception Radio Network | UFO & Paranormal Talk Radio.