Lincoln LaPaz
Encyclopedia
Lincoln LaPaz was an American astronomer
from the University of New Mexico
and a pioneer in the study of meteor
s.
He was born in Wichita, Kansas
on February 12, 1897 to Charles Melchior LaPaz and Emma Josephine (Strode). He earned his Bachelor of Arts
in 1920 in mathematics at Fairmont College (presently Wichita State University
) and also taught there between 1917 and 1920. He earned his Masters degree via a scholarship at Harvard University
, completed in 1922. On June 18, 1922, he married Leota Ray Butler and later had two children, Leota Jean and Mary Strode. Between 1922 and 1925 he taught at Dartmouth College
.
He received his Ph.D. in 1928 at the University of Chicago
, where he instructed for a short time and acted as National Research Fellow. In 1930, he was assistant professor at Ohio State University
and became associate professor in 1936 and finally professor in 1942, where he helped develop the graduate mathematics program.
LaPaz took leave from Ohio State to the New Mexico Proving Ground during World War II where he was a Research Mathematician, and later as Technical Director, Operations Analysis Section, Second Air Force. This is where he became interested in ballistics as well as meteorites. His work with the Second Air Force included investigation of Japanese Fugo balloon bombs that had reached the United States.
In 1945, he worked at the University of New Mexico
where he founded the Institute of Meteoritics, where he was Director until 1966.
Between 1945 to 1953 LaPaz was Head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy. From 1953 to 1962, he served as Director of the Division of Astronomy at the university.
, LaPaz's name is often associated with UFO investigations on behalf of the military during the late 1940s and early 1950s. These include the so-called Roswell UFO incident
of 1947, the N.M. green fireballs
, that began in late 1948 and continued through the 1950s, and the search for near-Earth orbiting satellites in 1954 along with fellow N.M. astronomer Clyde Tombaugh
. However, only LaPaz's association with the green fireball investigations for the Air Force is thoroughly documented and an undeniable historical fact.
LaPaz had two known UFO sightings of his own. The first occurred with his family on July 10, 1947, only two days after the infamous Roswell UFO incident and only 70 miles north of Roswell near Fort Sumner, N.M. As reported in a LIFE magazine article on UFOs in 1952, though LaPaz was not identified at the time, "all four of us almost simultaneously became aware of a curious bright object almost motionless" among the clouds. "As seen projected against these dark clouds, the object gave the strongest impression of self-luminosity." It "showed a sharp and firm regular outline, namely one of a smooth elliptical character much harder and sharper than the edges of the cloudlets... The hue of the luminous object was somewhat less white than the light of Jupiter in a dark sky, not aluminum or silver-colored.... The object clearly exhibited a sort of wobbling motion ... This wobbling motion served to set off the object as a rigid, if not solid body." After remaining stationary for about 30 seconds, it then suddenly rose. "This remarkably sudden ascent thoroughly convinced me that we were dealing with an absolutely novel airborne device."
His second sighting was of a green fireball, soon after he began his investigations into the phenomenon for the Air Force in December, 1948. The sighting was on December 12 and the phenomenon was also seen over Los Alamos, enabling LaPaz to perform a triangulation
. This showed the object's path was directly over the very sensitive Los Alamos. In a classified letter to the Air Force on December 20, LaPaz wrote that the object moved far too slowly to have been a meteor and left no "trail of sparks or dust cloud" as would be typical of meteors flying at low altitudes. Other anomalous characteristics were the intense lime-green color, low altitude of only 8–10 miles yet exhibiting no sound, flat rather than arced trajectory, and turning on and off like a light switch. Investigating many other green fireball sightings, LaPaz reached similar conclusions and decided they were probably artificial in origin, perhaps Russian spy devices. (see green fireballs
for details) LaPaz's green fireball investigations were also mentioned in the 1952 LIFE magazine article, and his wife also made a painting of a green fireball.
Regarding the 1947 Roswell incident, at least three witnesses, including two involved with Army and Air Force counterintelligence, claimed that LaPaz was brought in after the Roswell UFO incident
to interview witnesses and reconstruct the trajectory of the crash object .
In August 1954, a story broke in the press that Tombaugh and LaPaz, working on behalf of the Army, had found two "natural" satellites only 400 and 600 miles out that had recently come into orbit. LaPaz at first vehemently denied that he was involved in any way, and later denied that anything had been found, as did Tombaugh (see Clyde Tombaugh
for details). However, the fact that Tombaugh was indeed engaged in such a search was already public knowledge from previous press releases, as was LaPaz's knowledge of the search from discussions with Tombaugh, even if he wasn't directly involved. (see newspaper photo at right, where LaPaz was shown discussing the search with Tombaugh)
In 1964 LaPaz was also involved peripherally in the investigation of the famous Socorro UFO incident, in which a Socorro
policeman named Lonnie Zamora
saw a small egg-shaped object land, saw two humanoid figures near the object, and then when he approached to within 50 feet, the object blasted off and rapidly disappeared. LaPaz interviewed Zamora and vouched for him as a witness.
LaPaz's true beliefs about the origins of UFOs are a bit muddled. Two witnesses have said that LaPaz told them he was of the opinion that the Roswell crash object was an unmanned extraterrestrial
probe. The green fireballs he also felt were artificial in origin because of their anomalous characteristics. But government documents and public statements make it clear he thought they were probably Russian spy devices. (see green fireballs
for details)
LaPaz's last known comments on UFOs and the green fireballs occurred in 1965 during a visit by astronomer J. Allen Hynek
, a consultant to the Air Force's Project Blue Book
UFO investigation. Hynek was also investigating the Socorro incident. According to Hynek, LaPaz felt the fireballs were the most important part of the UFO phenomenon. He remained convinced that the fireballs' anomalous characteristics had never been adequately explained by the official investigation. LaPaz continued to think the green fireballs were artificial, but now believed the fireballs, and also the Socorro craft, to be highly secret projects of the U.S. government. He also accused Hynek, Project Blue Book
, and others of being part of "a grand cover-up for something the government does not want discussed"
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
from the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
and a pioneer in the study of meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
s.
He was born in Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
on February 12, 1897 to Charles Melchior LaPaz and Emma Josephine (Strode). He earned his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1920 in mathematics at Fairmont College (presently Wichita State University
Wichita State University
Wichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....
) and also taught there between 1917 and 1920. He earned his Masters degree via a scholarship at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, completed in 1922. On June 18, 1922, he married Leota Ray Butler and later had two children, Leota Jean and Mary Strode. Between 1922 and 1925 he taught at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
.
He received his Ph.D. in 1928 at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, where he instructed for a short time and acted as National Research Fellow. In 1930, he was assistant professor at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
and became associate professor in 1936 and finally professor in 1942, where he helped develop the graduate mathematics program.
LaPaz took leave from Ohio State to the New Mexico Proving Ground during World War II where he was a Research Mathematician, and later as Technical Director, Operations Analysis Section, Second Air Force. This is where he became interested in ballistics as well as meteorites. His work with the Second Air Force included investigation of Japanese Fugo balloon bombs that had reached the United States.
In 1945, he worked at the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
where he founded the Institute of Meteoritics, where he was Director until 1966.
Between 1945 to 1953 LaPaz was Head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy. From 1953 to 1962, he served as Director of the Division of Astronomy at the university.
LaPaz's UFO investigations
In ufologyUfology
Ufology is a neologism coined to describe the collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of unidentified flying objects . UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years by governments, independent groups, and scientists...
, LaPaz's name is often associated with UFO investigations on behalf of the military during the late 1940s and early 1950s. These include the so-called Roswell UFO incident
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
of 1947, the N.M. green fireballs
Green Fireballs
Green fireballs are a type of unidentified flying object which have been sighted in the sky since the late 1940s . Early sightings primarily occurred in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico...
, that began in late 1948 and continued through the 1950s, and the search for near-Earth orbiting satellites in 1954 along with fellow N.M. astronomer Clyde Tombaugh
Clyde Tombaugh
Clyde William Tombaugh was an American astronomer. Although he is best known for discovering the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper Belt, Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids; he also called for serious scientific...
. However, only LaPaz's association with the green fireball investigations for the Air Force is thoroughly documented and an undeniable historical fact.
LaPaz had two known UFO sightings of his own. The first occurred with his family on July 10, 1947, only two days after the infamous Roswell UFO incident and only 70 miles north of Roswell near Fort Sumner, N.M. As reported in a LIFE magazine article on UFOs in 1952, though LaPaz was not identified at the time, "all four of us almost simultaneously became aware of a curious bright object almost motionless" among the clouds. "As seen projected against these dark clouds, the object gave the strongest impression of self-luminosity." It "showed a sharp and firm regular outline, namely one of a smooth elliptical character much harder and sharper than the edges of the cloudlets... The hue of the luminous object was somewhat less white than the light of Jupiter in a dark sky, not aluminum or silver-colored.... The object clearly exhibited a sort of wobbling motion ... This wobbling motion served to set off the object as a rigid, if not solid body." After remaining stationary for about 30 seconds, it then suddenly rose. "This remarkably sudden ascent thoroughly convinced me that we were dealing with an absolutely novel airborne device."
His second sighting was of a green fireball, soon after he began his investigations into the phenomenon for the Air Force in December, 1948. The sighting was on December 12 and the phenomenon was also seen over Los Alamos, enabling LaPaz to perform a triangulation
Triangulation
In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly...
. This showed the object's path was directly over the very sensitive Los Alamos. In a classified letter to the Air Force on December 20, LaPaz wrote that the object moved far too slowly to have been a meteor and left no "trail of sparks or dust cloud" as would be typical of meteors flying at low altitudes. Other anomalous characteristics were the intense lime-green color, low altitude of only 8–10 miles yet exhibiting no sound, flat rather than arced trajectory, and turning on and off like a light switch. Investigating many other green fireball sightings, LaPaz reached similar conclusions and decided they were probably artificial in origin, perhaps Russian spy devices. (see green fireballs
Green Fireballs
Green fireballs are a type of unidentified flying object which have been sighted in the sky since the late 1940s . Early sightings primarily occurred in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico...
for details) LaPaz's green fireball investigations were also mentioned in the 1952 LIFE magazine article, and his wife also made a painting of a green fireball.
Regarding the 1947 Roswell incident, at least three witnesses, including two involved with Army and Air Force counterintelligence, claimed that LaPaz was brought in after the Roswell UFO incident
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
to interview witnesses and reconstruct the trajectory of the crash object .
Clyde Tombaugh
Clyde William Tombaugh was an American astronomer. Although he is best known for discovering the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper Belt, Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids; he also called for serious scientific...
for details). However, the fact that Tombaugh was indeed engaged in such a search was already public knowledge from previous press releases, as was LaPaz's knowledge of the search from discussions with Tombaugh, even if he wasn't directly involved. (see newspaper photo at right, where LaPaz was shown discussing the search with Tombaugh)
In 1964 LaPaz was also involved peripherally in the investigation of the famous Socorro UFO incident, in which a Socorro
Socorro, New Mexico
Socorro is a city in Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It stands in the Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . The population was 9,051 at the 2010 census...
policeman named Lonnie Zamora
Lonnie Zamora
Lonnie Zamora was a New Mexico police officer who reported a UFO sighting while on duty on Friday, April 24, 1964, near Socorro, New Mexico....
saw a small egg-shaped object land, saw two humanoid figures near the object, and then when he approached to within 50 feet, the object blasted off and rapidly disappeared. LaPaz interviewed Zamora and vouched for him as a witness.
LaPaz's true beliefs about the origins of UFOs are a bit muddled. Two witnesses have said that LaPaz told them he was of the opinion that the Roswell crash object was an unmanned extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
probe. The green fireballs he also felt were artificial in origin because of their anomalous characteristics. But government documents and public statements make it clear he thought they were probably Russian spy devices. (see green fireballs
Green Fireballs
Green fireballs are a type of unidentified flying object which have been sighted in the sky since the late 1940s . Early sightings primarily occurred in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico...
for details)
LaPaz's last known comments on UFOs and the green fireballs occurred in 1965 during a visit by astronomer J. Allen Hynek
J. Allen Hynek
Dr. Josef Allen Hynek was a United States astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific adviser to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive names: Project Sign , Project Grudge , and Project Blue Book...
, a consultant to the Air Force's Project Blue Book
Project Blue Book
Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified flying objects conducted by the United States Air Force. Started in 1952, it was the second revival of such a study...
UFO investigation. Hynek was also investigating the Socorro incident. According to Hynek, LaPaz felt the fireballs were the most important part of the UFO phenomenon. He remained convinced that the fireballs' anomalous characteristics had never been adequately explained by the official investigation. LaPaz continued to think the green fireballs were artificial, but now believed the fireballs, and also the Socorro craft, to be highly secret projects of the U.S. government. He also accused Hynek, Project Blue Book
Project Blue Book
Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified flying objects conducted by the United States Air Force. Started in 1952, it was the second revival of such a study...
, and others of being part of "a grand cover-up for something the government does not want discussed"