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In 1953, when theoretical astrophysicist Donald Menzel became the Director of the Harvard Observatory the first thing he did was order a third of its astronomical data collection to be “gotten rid of”. (He also stopped the Harvard Sky survey for 15 years – the gap in the data is referred to as the “Menzel gap”.) And all this just months after a rash of unexplained “UFO” sightings were reported in Washington in 1952.

Why would a serious scientist order one of the most valuable collections of data in astronomy to be destroyed?

Some claim it was a simple issue of a lack of storage.

But there are other factors to consider:

1. He was a staunch and vocal UFO debunker
2. He had ties with the intelligence community

Which raises more questions:

1. Was he trying to hide something?
2. Was he acting on his own, or was he just following orders?

Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, PhD in Astronomy, explains the details of the story.

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