Within Obituaries
What Mc Donald's Obituary Proves About His Death
McDonald's professional obituary firmly establishes who he was, while separate reporting is needed to assess how he died.
On this page
- What the professional obituary establishes
- What it leaves unanswered about his death
- How later reporting changes the evidential picture
Page outline Jump by section
Introduction
James E. McDonald’s professional obituary establishes something important but limited: the man at the centre of later UFO-death speculation was unquestionably a prominent atmospheric scientist, and he died on 13 June 1971. It doesnotstate how he died. Louis J. Battan’s obituary in theBulletin of the American Meteorological Societyconcentrates on McDonald’s scientific career, his environmental work and his UFO investigations, ending with a tribute to his integrity and courage rather than an account of his death.
The circumstances come from a different evidential stream. Contemporary news reporting described his death as an apparent suicide, while later reporting by his local newspaper states more firmly that it was ruled suicide: his body was found near Tucson’s Cañada del Oro wash, a revolver was beside it, and he had left a note. The same local account records an earlier self-inflicted gunshot wound and another note.
That distinction is central to assessing claims that McDonald was a suspiciously deceased UFO researcher. The obituary is strong evidence forwho he was and when he died. It is not a death investigation.
What the professional obituary establishes
The American Meteorological Society obituary is unusually valuable because it places McDonald in his professional setting rather than defining him principally through UFO research. Published in the society’sBulletinin 1971 and written by meteorologist Louis J. Battan, it identifies him as James Edward McDonald, born on 7 May 1920 in Duluth, Minnesota, and records his death on 13 June 1971. It describes him as a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona’s Institute of Atmospheric Physics and a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.
The notice also supplies a detailed educational and employment trail. McDonald earned a BA from the University of Omaha in 1942, an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1945 and a doctorate from Iowa State University in 1951. During the Second World War he served in the US Navy as an aerologist and taught meteorology at MIT. After spending 1953 at the University of Chicago, he joined the University of Arizona’s Institute of Atmospheric Physics in 1954 as associate director, later giving up the administrative role to concentrate on teaching and research.
Those details matter because McDonald can look very different depending on which literature a reader encounters first. In UFO histories he appears as one of the most forceful scientifically trained advocates for taking unidentified flying-object reports seriously. The professional obituary shows that this was one part of a much broader scientific career. It gives substantial space to his work on the atmospheric effects of supersonic transport aircraft, including his concern that SST emissions might affect stratospheric ozone and consequently ultraviolet exposure.
Nor did Battan’s obituary conceal McDonald’s controversial UFO work. It says that during his final years McDonald devoted considerable attention to UFO reports, interviewed hundreds of people and analysed possible explanations. It also acknowledges that this work brought him into conflict with other scientists and engineers. The memorial nevertheless presents the investigation as part of McDonald’s characteristic scientific intensity, saying that he regarded unexplained UFO reports as an important problem receiving inadequate attention.
This is an important evidential point. The obituary cannot reasonably be characterised as an institutional attempt to erase McDonald’s UFO involvement: it explicitly records it. At the same time, its emphasis on his atmospheric-science career corrects the opposite distortion, in which his conventional scientific work becomes merely a prelude to his UFO advocacy.
What the obituary leaves unanswered about his death
The striking feature of theBulletinobituary is not what it says about McDonald’s death but what it doesnotsay. After stating that he died on 13 June 1971, it supplies no location, medical cause, manner of death, weapon, investigative finding or account of the discovery of his body.
That silence creates an evidential gap, not evidence of concealment. Battan was writing a professional memorial whose purpose was to describe McDonald’s career and character. Its closing assessment portrays him as a scientist of unusual qualities and a man of integrity and courage who had made a lasting impact on atmospheric science and society. Nothing in the document indicates that it was intended to reproduce a coroner’s finding, police report or death certificate.
This matters when the obituary is used in arguments about a supposedly suspicious death. If the question is whether the James E. McDonald associated with controversial UFO research was a genuine, highly credentialled University of Arizona atmospheric scientist who died in 1971, the obituary is powerful evidence. If the question is whether he died by suicide, homicide or some other means, the document is largely silent.
The evidential categories therefore need to remain separate. The obituary establishes identity, professional standing and date of death. It also demonstrates that colleagues knew about and openly acknowledged his UFO research. It doesnotestablish the physical circumstances of death, and its failure to mention suicide cannot legitimately be converted into evidence against a suicide finding.
Contemporary reporting supplies the missing circumstances
Reporting produced around the time of McDonald’s death fills in information absent from the professional memorial. ANew York Timesreport based on United Press International, dated 16 June 1971, described the 51-year-old University of Arizona physicist as having been found dead in a desert area in what was then reported as an “apparent suicide”. Authorities said he had died from a head wound and that a note and a.38-calibre revolver had been found beside his body.
That contemporary report is particularly useful because it appeared within days of the discovery rather than emerging decades later from UFO literature. It also preserved the distinction between what authorities had observed and the provisional character of the initial reporting: “apparent suicide” is not identical to a final forensic ruling. The article simultaneously described McDonald as a respected cloud physicist and a prominent scientific advocate for investigating UFOs, so the UFO connection was hardly hidden from contemporary readers.
A later retrospective by theArizona Daily Star, McDonald’s local newspaper, gives the finding more definitively. It states that his body was found near a bridge over the Cañada del Oro wash, close to Ina Road and Interstate 10; that a revolver was found next to him; and that his death “was ruled a suicide”.
More importantly for assessing alternative-death claims, theStaradds a fact that substantially changes the evidential picture: McDonald had attempted suicide a few months earlier by shooting himself in the head. The newspaper says that he left a note on both occasions. This prior attempt is not mentioned in the American Meteorological Society obituary, but its absence there does not negate the local reporting. It demonstrates why the memorial and death-circumstances sources answer different questions.
How later reporting changes the evidential picture
The laterArizona Daily Staraccount is significant because it is not merely repeating that McDonald died from a gunshot wound. Taken together, its reported facts form a much more specific sequence: an earlier self-inflicted shooting, survival, a second gunshot death, a firearm found beside the body, notes associated with both incidents and an official suicide ruling.
That sequence sets a considerably higher evidential hurdle for claims that McDonald’s final death was staged or caused by another party. His prominence in the UFO controversy can explain why later writers became interested in the death, but prominence and controversy do not themselves supply evidence that the official finding was false. A claim of foul play would need evidence capable of outweighing or materially undermining the reported physical circumstances, the earlier attempt and the suicide ruling.
There is nevertheless a limit to what can be claimed from the accessible material. The strongest sources located here are the professional obituary, contemporary press reporting and later local historical reporting. They are not substitutes for the underlying death certificate, coroner’s file, police case file, autopsy material or original notes. The public evidence therefore supports describing McDonald’s death asreported and ruled a suicide, rather than claiming that every forensic detail has been independently reconstructed from primary investigative records.
That wording also avoids a different error found in some later discussions: treating uncertainty about unavailable underlying records as positive evidence of murder. An evidential gap can justify further verification; it does not determine what that verification would show.
The obituary and death account are complementary, not contradictory
Placed side by side, the two bodies of evidence do not reveal a contradiction. They reveal different documentary purposes.
TheBulletin of the American Meteorological Societymemorial establishes McDonald’s identity, education, University of Arizona career, standing in atmospheric science, environmental activism, UFO investigations and date of death. It remembers a colleague. The contemporary and local newspaper accounts address what happened physically: McDonald was found dead near Tucson with a firearm and note, contemporary reporting called the death an apparent suicide, and the laterArizona Daily Starsays it was ruled suicide while documenting the preceding attempt.
There is even a useful cross-check between these sources. The professional memorial does not suppress McDonald’s controversial interests; it explicitly discusses his UFO research and the conflicts it generated. Meanwhile, the contemporary death report also identified him as a prominent advocate of the possibility that UFOs had an extraterrestrial explanation. Thus the omission requiring explanation is narrow: the professional obituary omitted themanner and circumstances of death, not McDonald’s association with UFOs.
For disputed researcher-death claims, that is the central lesson of the McDonald case. His obituary is excellent evidence that a scientifically established atmospheric physicist who became deeply involved in UFO research died on 13 June 1971. It cannot establish that he committed suicide, but neither does its silence cast doubt on suicide. For that question, the evidential weight shifts to reporting about the death itself—and the available reporting supports the recorded suicide finding rather than providing affirmative evidence of a covert killing.
Amazon book picks
Further Reading
Books and field guides related to What Mc Donald's Obituary Proves About His Death. Use these as the next step if you want deeper reading beyond the article.
UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Re...
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Impeccably researched, this riveting journalistic investigation separates fact from fiction, and documents th...
The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry
Cited by the New York Review of Books as "the best brief for visitation," this classic study presents an analysis of UFO reports and conc...
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, written by Captain Edward Ruppelt in 1956, was the first serious, unbiased account written abo...
The Craft of Research
Rating: 4.3/5 from 6 Google Books ratings
Since 1995, students, researchers, and professionals have turned to The Craft of Research for clear and helpful guidance on how to conduc...
eBay marketplace picks
Marketplace Samples
Live-tested eBay searches with available results related to this page.
Selected fromUFO poster oneBay.co.uk.
Endnotes
1.
Source: tucson.com
Title: Arizona Daily Star Tales from the Morgue: UFOs are real
Link:https://tucson.com/news/blogs/morgue-tales/tales-from-the-morgue-ufos-are-real/article_6593476e-745e-11e1-838d-001871e3ce6c.html
2.
Source: ufos.wiki
Title: James E. Mc Donald
Link:https://ufos.wiki/figure/james-e-mcdonald/
3.
Source: extension.arizona.edu
Link:https://extension.arizona.edu/programs/natural-resource-users-law-and-policy-center-nrulpc/team
4.
Source: wikidata.org
Title: James E
Link:https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1374577
Source snippet
McDonald - WikidataApril 8, 2026 — American physicist (1920–1971) * James Edward McDonald edit Language | Label | Description | Also know...
Published: April 8, 2026
5.
Source: scribd.com
Link:https://www.scribd.com/document/933725503/4880516
6.
Source: e-yearbook.com
Title: University of Arizona
Link:https://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/University_Arizona_Desert_Yearbook/1988/Page_1.html
7.
Source: silverland.info
Title: James Edward Mc Donald
Link:https://www.silverland.info/ufo-s-people/james-edward-mc-donald/
Additional References
8.
Source: handwiki.org
Title: Hand Wiki Biography:James E. Mc Donald
Link:https://handwiki.org/wiki/Biography%3AJames_E._McDonald
Source snippet
McDonald - HandWikiMarch 11, 2026 — BIOGRAPHY:JAMES E. MCDONALD From HandWiki [Input] Short description: American meteorologist and ufolo...
Published: March 11, 2026
9.
Source: reddit.com
Title: james mcdonald, a cloud physicist
Link:https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1fpf49c/remembering_dr_james_e_mcdonald_let_us_not_forget/
Source snippet
james mcdonald, a cloud physicist - r/UFOsMcDonald, nationally known University of Arizona physicist, was found dead in a desert ar...
10.
Source: youtube.com
Title: “Ridicule” ~ A tribute to UFO researcher Dr. James E. Mc Donald (
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMaVBfgyrJ4
Source snippet
1969 🇺🇸 #UFOB [SPEECH] 'Science In Default' by Professor James E. McDonald...
Published: May 7, 1920
11.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krMjwsEl0PA
Source snippet
James E McDonald UFO scientist death James E. McDonald: The UFO Scientist Who Wouldn’t Back Down...
12.
Source: daten-quadrat.de
Title: Scientific Journals
Link:https://www.daten-quadrat.de/index.php?lng=de&order=1&orgN=2
Source snippet
July 29, 2025 — Shiddiky, Desalegn Shiferaw, Md Monir Hossain Shimul, Rahman Shiri, Aminu Shittu, Velizar Shivarov, Ambreen Shoaib, Sina...
Published: July 29, 2025
13.
Source: cbsnews.com
Title: notable deaths in 2026
Link:https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/notable-deaths-in-2026/
Source snippet
Butterfield White House aide Alexander Butterfield at the swearing-in before the Senate Watergate Committee in July 1973. | Steve No...
Published: July 1973
14.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSil34LddA
Source snippet
The Impossible Death of Ufologist James E McDonald...
15.
Source: youtube.com
Title: James E. Mc Donald: The UFO Scientist Who Wouldn’t Back Down
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gwQqhSS4tk
Source snippet
"Ridicule" ~ A tribute to UFO researcher Dr. James E. McDonald (May 7, 1920 – June 13, 1971)...
Published: May 7, 1920
16.
Source: files.ncas.org
Title: Files Mc Carthy Dissertation: James E. Mc Donald Obituary
Link:https://files.ncas.org/mccarthy/obit.html
Source snippet
NCAS FilesMcCarthy Dissertation: James E. McDonald Obituary...
17.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Impossible Death of Ufologist James E Mc Donald
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfY1NxJBisQ
Source snippet
James E. McDonald: The UFO Scientist Who Wouldn’t Back Down...