Hynek’s encounter taxonomy and the creation of CUFOS

Witness account

J. Allen Hynek’s The UFO Experience introduced the classification system that popularized close encounters of the first, second and third kinds, distinguishing proximity, claimed physical effects and reported occupants. In 1973 he founded the Center for UFO Studies, creating an institutional home for collecting reports and promoting scientific investigation outside the discontinued Blue Book program.

Public record

CUFOS’s own history and university archival holdings establish these publication and institutional milestones. The categories classify reported experiences; they are not grades of proof, and the presence of a named category does not show that the reported object or occupant was real. Later abduction terminology extends beyond Hynek’s original three close-encounter categories.

Sources

• Center for UFO Studies, institutional history
• Northwestern University, J. Allen Hynek archival materials