“Mark O’Connell’s compelling biography of lone wolf Air Force investigator J. Allen Hynek is a testimony to the complex nature of belief and its effect on the human condition.” — Leslie Kean, bestselling author of Surviving Death and UFOs

“No serious study of the UFO phenomenon could be complete without a look at Dr. J. Allen Hynek. O’Connell has done a masterful job of interweaving the life of this scientist, star-gazer, and space pioneer with an engaging encapsulation of the UFO phenomenon. This is not to be missed.” — Jim Marrs, author of the world’s top-selling non-fiction UFO book Alien Agenda

“This book reveals why Dr Allen Hynek’s fight for a UFO science needs to be understood and turned into a powerful momentum for change. Hop on board the wild UFO comet ride of our lives.” — Bill Chalker, “UFO writer” and author of The OZ Files: The Australian UFO Story, Hair of the Alien, and UFOs and Government

“In telling the life story of Hynek, the ‘astro-beatnik,’ O’Connell winds up with a stunning panorama of the UFO movement and its colossal impact on pop culture and modern science.” — Vice

“A book that smartly refuses to simplify anything. The mystery of UFOs persists, as does the mystery of J. Allen Hynek. Yet thanks to Mark O’Connell, the latter is now a bit less mysterious.” — The Los Angeles Review

“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.” — The Guardian

“Hynek’s story is one that deserves to be written in the stars instead of stuffed in a filing cabinet in a basement, where O’Connell found much research material for this book. O’Connell’s book is a good step to making that happen.” — Shepherd Express

“O’Connell’s book also is notable as a methodical history of the UFO phenomena in America—a story so often overshadowed by the Roswell incident.” — The Millions

Meet the man who believed . . . the astronomer who invented the concept of “Close Encounters” with alien life, inspired Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster classic science fiction 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 skeptic 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 behind the legend. 

Tracing Hynek’s career, O’Connell examines his 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.