Most people have probably not heard of Philip J. Klass, which is unfortunate. Klass was one of America's prominent skeptical investigators of alleged UFO sightings. He travelled widely and wrote a large number of books and articles on the subject. Even believers in UFOs had to acknowledge his tireless work on behalf of the truth. He died in August, 2005.

The November/December 2005 Skeptical Inquirer discusses Klass’ life and work:

Nobody except Phil could have convincingly tackled UFO cases involving radar, aircraft instrumentation, etc. His knowledge of avionics was second to none, and when a radar system or an aircraft control behaved strangely, causing some to attribute the anomaly to distant lights in the sky, Phil would go straight to the technical manual for the relevant avionics and explain exactly what had happened. [...]

Toward the end of his career, even many of UFOlogy’s most dedicated proponents grudgingly expressed a degree of admiration for Klass and for his role in trimming away misinformation and imposture. UFO promoters typically claim that skeptics are “uninformed” about the supposedly excellent “evidence” for UFOs, but everybody agreed it was impossible to say that about Klass.

What’s interesting is that believers in UFOs did not themselves always go straight to technical manuals to find out if there were completely mundane explanations for apparently strange events. If believers admit that Klass played an important role in “trimming away misinformation,” then they are admitting that believers themselves failed to do enough of this — but they are precisely the ones who should have been doing it. They should be the ones eliminating the bad data so that only the best possible cases for UFOs can ever be presented.

 

Read More:

• Skepticism & Critical Thinking
• News About Skepticism and the Paranormal
• UFOs and Aliens