The Menzel Gap, i.e. MJ-12 Gap
Amazingly, Dr. Donald Howard Menzel (1901–1976), who led a clandestine life as an elite member of the U.S. intelligence community, destroyed and prevented from being recorded a large amount of astronomical plates and log records for a time period between approximately 1953–1970. Dr. Menzel secretly had a very high security clearance according to physicist and author Stanton Friedman.
A quick example of this missing data can be seen in this graph, from this paper, where it is mentioned by name:
“Note the absence of DASCH measurements during the “Menzel Gap” period from approximately 1955–1970, as discussed by Grindlay and Griffin”.
Anyone who understands UAP’s and has closely studied the sighting databases would know that these were key years for the phenomenon.
This isn’t a small gap. It created a notable absence in the continuous astronomical record that Harvard was compiling through its plate collection program, which spanned from the 1880s to the 1980s. The “Menzel Gap” is a recognized term in the field of astronomy, reflecting the interruption in this otherwise extensive and valuable dataset.
For a practical example of how this “gap” impacted astronomy, see this paper which I quickly found on archive.org:
The gap isn’t just a lack of astronomical plates: the log records were destroyed too. See this interview with Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, a leading astrophysicist at the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics, Stockholm University:
Also see her article The Vanishing Star Enigma and the 1952 Washington D.C. UFO Wave, which mentions the Menzel Gap:
Despite its numerous successes, Harvard’s photographic plate collection faced many challenges during its history. In the early 1950s, Harvard University chose to destroy a portion of its own photographic plate collection under the directive of its Director Donald Menzel who entered office in 1952. This story is carefully retold in the astronomer Dorrit Hoffleit’s autobiography, Misfortunes as Blessings in Disguise. Furthermore, Donald Menzel stopped Harvard’s observatory from conducting further photographic plate surveys of the sky in 1953. The latter event is now commonly referred to as the ‘Menzel gap‘. Constraints related to storage space and budgetary limitations were cited. Only fifteen years later, Harvard resumed its surveillance of the sky upon Menzel’s retirement.
In the article she linked to, it states “For example, at Harvard in the 1950s, Menzel ordered the destruction of many historic plates.”
Dr. Menzel was also said to be a member of the UFO Working Group (see The Day After Roswell), which was Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso’s name for what some researchers called “MJ-12”.
The closer I look at UAP’s, the more I realize we are in a state of mass amnesia and almost total confusion over this historically huge phenomenon.
