Wednesday, March 08, 2006

March Poll - Greatest Ufologist Ever

The question for the March poll is:

Who is the greatest ufologist ever?

There are 18 people (well, 19 - you'll see when you get there) to pick from, as well as an "Other" option you can choose if there is someone else you would have voted for (if you hit the "Other" option, please leave a comment as to who you would have picked).

Back on July 8, 2005, I gave my rankings of the Top 10 ufologists. I'm curious to see to what extent people agree or disagree with my choices.

The poll can he found here.

Paul Kimball

6 comments:

Mike said...

My fellow UFO students!

I ask you: who in ufology has
the best record for staying power,
for stamina, for consistency?

James Moseley, that's who!

I ask you: who has the best record
for exposing the ludricous and
deflating the pompous? And, who
is the best gardener, insuring that
all weeds are plucked fully from the roots?

James Moseley, that's who!

(This campaign speech not brought
to you by James Moseley.)

Mike Jamieson

PS: Otherwise, my second vote goes
to Vallee and third choice to Jerry
Clark.

Paul Kimball said...

Mike:

Moseley is a great guy, absolutely, and has done some excellent things for ufology, but I wouldn't rate him higher than real scientists like Vallee, McDonald, or Hynek, who each had profound impacts on how the UFO phenomenon is studied, or someone like Friedman or Keyhoe, who had a huge role in popularizing UFOs amongst the masses (as well as making contributions to the serious study).

But Moseley, as my old top 10 showed, is one of the great figures in UFO history, no question, for the reasons you cite.

Paul

Mike said...

Don't worry, Paul, I haven't
lost my discrimative capacities!
(IOW, I'm just being silly....and,
I want to make sure Moseley gets
at least ONE vote.)

Mike said...

Wow. Did I suceed in getting James a vote?

(No, I'm not stuffing the ballot box.)

Okay...someone vote for Clark!
(Let's start with his three volume
enyclopedic contribution...and
for saying it's okay to say "I don't know".)

Paul Kimball said...

Mike:

Actually, Jim has got two already! :-)

He is an icon. no doubt about it.

Clark is a good guy, for sure, and has done a lot of good work. I just don't see him in quite the same league as McDonald, Hynek, Friedman or Vallee - and I bet he doesn't either (McDonald and Hynek at least).

Vallee seems to be the early front-runner, with Hynek in second, and Friedman and McDonald tied for third. Watch out for Keyhoe, however, sneaking up the middle as the month goes along. I think those will wind up as the top five.

Nice to see the late Bob Pratt get a vote.

Now, if the CSICOPers find out about this, and start voting for Klass, all bets are off!! :-)

Paul

Mike said...

It's interesting that Vallee
and Hynek, both not locked into
a fixed hypothesis re: UFOs, are
top vote getters. That's a good
sign. But, has word of your poll
gone out to voters in precincts
with heavy exopolitical voter
registration? (Probably not:
I don't see any write in votes for
Michael Salla as yet.)

When I was a teenager, Keyhoe and
the Loranzens were big favorites of mine.

The thing about Vallee is that he
goes out on his own and really does
do in depth investigations.

Hynek made his mark, for sure.
The fact that CUFOS is still a sound and sane vehicle for UFO
research is likely cause for a vote or two to go to Jerry Clark.