Within Obituaries
Mcdonald Obituary
James E. McDonald’s 1971 professional obituary provides unusually strong evidence for one narrow but important point: his UFO research was real, extensive and recognised by his scientific colleagues. McDonald was not merely an atmospheric scientist whose name was later attached to UFO lore. Louis J.
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Introduction
That matters when McDonald appears in accounts of allegedly suspicious researcher deaths. The obituary is strong evidence for his professional standing and serious involvement with UFO investigation. It is not, however, evidence that his research caused his death, nor does the professional obituary establish a manner of death. Those are separate claims requiring separate sources.
The scientific career documented by his peers
McDonald’s UFO activities have more evidential significance because they formed one part of an established scientific career rather than constituting his entire professional identity. The obituary was written by meteorologist Louis J. Battan and published in volume 52 of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in 1971. The American Meteorological Society’s own archive identifies the piece as its necrology for James E. McDonald, 1920–1971.[American Meteorological Society Journals]journals.ametsoc.orgAmerican Meteorological Society JournalsnecrologyJames E. McDonald, profes- sor of atmospheric sciences at the Institute of Atmo- spheric Physics at the Uni- versity of Arizona and AMS…
McDonald was a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona and a senior figure in its Institute of Atmospheric Physics. His scientific interests included cloud and precipitation physics, atmospheric radiation and optics, weather modification and other problems in atmospheric science. A separate memorial resolution by four University of Arizona colleagues — Battan, A. Richard Kassander Jr, Paul S. Martin and Cornelius Steelink — described his work on subjects ranging from raindrop physics to cloud modification and atmospheric effects from supersonic aircraft.[Kirk McD]kirkmcd.princeton.eduKirk Mc Djames edward mcdonaldKirk McDjames edward mcdonald - 1920-1971hundreds of people and made detailed analyses of possible explana- tions. He maintained that the…
There is independent documentary support for that career. The University of Arizona’s archival catalogue preserves the James E. McDonald papers, covering 1904–1997, while its history-of-science guide identifies McDonald as associate director of the university’s Institute of Atmospheric Physics. His surviving scientific bibliography includes conventional atmospheric-physics work wholly separate from the UFO controversy.[arizona.edu]libguides.library.arizona.eduMcDonald Papers (MS 412) James E. McDonald (1920-1971) was Associate Director at the University of Arizona's Institute of Atmospheric Phy…
This distinction is important. Calling McDonald a “UFO researcher” can inadvertently make him sound like a figure who worked outside ordinary science. His professional memorial record shows something more precise: he was an established atmospheric scientist who subsequently committed substantial time and professional energy to investigating UFO reports.
What the obituary says about his UFO investigations
The strongest passage for this particular question is remarkably explicit. McDonald’s colleagues wrote that during his final years he gave “considerable attention” to analysing reports of unidentified flying objects. They said that he treated the subject as a scientific problem, studied the available information and evidence, interviewed hundreds of people and made detailed analyses of possible explanations. They also recorded his view that satisfactory explanations for UFO reports constituted an important scientific problem receiving inadequate attention.[Kirk McD]kirkmcd.princeton.eduKirk Mc Djames edward mcdonaldKirk McDjames edward mcdonald - 1920-1971hundreds of people and made detailed analyses of possible explana- tions. He maintained that the…
That wording establishes several things at once. McDonald’s interest was not fleeting; it occupied years near the end of his career. It was investigative rather than merely speculative: witness interviews, evidence collection and analysis are specifically mentioned. Most importantly for evidential purposes, these facts were recorded by his academic colleagues shortly after his death, not reconstructed decades later by UFO enthusiasts.
The University of Arizona archive provides a second, independent institutional check on the scale of that work. Its catalogue does not simply contain an occasional UFO letter among McDonald’s professional papers. It designates an entire “UFO Research Files” subgroup covering material from 1904 to 1971, alongside UFO journals, photographic material and audio tapes.[azarchivesonline.org]azarchivesonline.orgUntitledJames E. McDonald papers, 1904-1997. Collection… Subgroup I: UFO Research Files, 1904-1971… Series V: Photographic Material…
Surviving records also show that this research reached major public scientific and governmental forums. The official 1968 US House Committee on Science and Astronautics symposium listed “Prof James E McDonald, Department of Meteorology, University of Arizona” among its witnesses, alongside astronomer J. Allen Hynek, Carl Sagan and other scientists.[Google Books]books.google.comGoogle BooksSymposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings…90-2, July 29, 1968 - United States. Congress. House. Science and Astron… McDonald used that forum to argue that unexplained UFO reports deserved serious scientific attention.
The point is not that Congress thereby endorsed McDonald’s conclusions. It did not. Rather, the hearing independently verifies something the obituary says about his activity: McDonald was publicly pursuing UFO investigation while identified through his conventional university scientific position.
His surviving research record makes the same distinction particularly clear. McDonald argued that most reported objects could have conventional explanations, but concentrated on cases that he believed resisted satisfactory identification. His central complaint was that the remaining cases had not received adequate scientific scrutiny. Contemporary and archival material therefore supports the obituary’s characterisation of him as someone attempting to investigate the problem systematically, whether or not one accepts his eventual interpretations.[info-quest.org]info-quest.orgStatement by Dr. James E Mc Donald on UFOsStatement by Dr. James E Mc Donald on UFOs
Why the obituary is unusually valuable evidence
An obituary normally provides only compressed biographical information. McDonald’s professional memorial is more useful because its authors were positioned to know what he had actually been doing. Battan worked in atmospheric science at the University of Arizona, and the fuller memorial resolution was signed by four university colleagues. Their description of McDonald’s UFO activity therefore has a different evidential status from a later biography repeating a story about him.[Kirk McD]kirkmcd.princeton.eduKirk Mc Djames edward mcdonaldKirk McDjames edward mcdonald - 1920-1971hundreds of people and made detailed analyses of possible explana- tions. He maintained that the…
There is also an important absence of sensational language. The memorial does not claim that McDonald proved extraterrestrial visitation, discovered secret technology or uncovered a conspiracy. Instead, it describes method: gathering information, interviewing witnesses, analysing possible explanations and pressing for more scientific attention. That restrained description makes the document particularly useful for separating the historical fact of his research from arguments about whether his conclusions were correct.
The archive strengthens that interpretation. McDonald’s preserved papers include extensive UFO research material, correspondence and interviews. A later Australian archive project, drawing attention to recordings McDonald made while investigating cases in Australia in 1967, likewise describes correspondence, interviews, audio and printed material now held within the University of Arizona collections.[UFOR]ufor.asn.auUFORDr James E Mc Donald’s ArchivesUFORDr James E Mc Donald’s Archives
Taken together, these records make a narrow proposition very difficult to dispute: McDonald’s UFO investigation was a substantial activity undertaken during his lifetime, known to his colleagues and documented in both contemporary professional memorials and surviving institutional archives.
What the obituary does not establish about his death
The same source becomes much less useful once the question shifts from McDonald’s research to why he died. The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society obituary records his death and commemorates his career, but it does not supply a forensic account establishing his manner of death. Its silence cannot legitimately be converted into evidence of homicide, suppression or an unresolved official finding.[American Meteorological Society Journals]journals.ametsoc.orgAmerican Meteorological Society JournalsnecrologyJames E. McDonald, profes- sor of atmospheric sciences at the Institute of Atmo- spheric Physics at the Uni- versity of Arizona and AMS…
That limitation is particularly important because later discussions sometimes combine two propositions as though evidence for one automatically strengthens the other:
- Well supported: McDonald was a respected atmospheric scientist who undertook extensive UFO investigations.
- Requires separate evidence: McDonald was killed, persecuted into death or otherwise died because of those investigations.
The obituary supports the first proposition strongly. It does not establish the second.
Contemporary reporting outside the professional obituary supplies information that the obituary itself omits. A New York Times report published shortly after McDonald’s death described him as a cloud physicist and prominent scientific advocate of taking UFOs seriously, while reporting that authorities found him dead with a head wound and that a note and.38-calibre revolver were beside the body.[Wikidata]wikidata.orgJames E. Mc DonaldJames E. Mc Donald That evidence belongs to the separate question of his death circumstances; it should not be retroactively attributed to the meteorological obituary.
This is precisely why obituaries must be used with evidential discipline in disputed researcher-death cases. A document may be exceptionally strong for professional biography while remaining silent on forensic questions.
What McDonald’s obituary actually proves
For the UFO-research question, the evidential chain is unusually coherent. A contemporary professional obituary identifies McDonald as an established atmospheric scientist and explicitly describes extensive UFO investigation. His University of Arizona archival collection preserves a substantial body of UFO research files. Congressional records independently place him before a House scientific symposium discussing the subject under his University of Arizona affiliation.[princeton.edu]kirkmcd.princeton.eduKirk Mc Djames edward mcdonaldKirk McDjames edward mcdonald - 1920-1971hundreds of people and made detailed analyses of possible explana- tions. He maintained that the…
The reasonable conclusion is therefore specific rather than sensational: James E. McDonald’s serious involvement in UFO research is a documented historical fact, not a later embellishment created around his death. His scientific colleagues themselves acknowledged that work and described the investigative effort behind it.
What does not follow is equally important. The obituary provides no evidence that McDonald’s UFO research caused his death, no evidence of an operation against him and no forensic basis for reclassifying his death. Within the wider debate over allegedly suspicious deaths of UFO and unconventional-research scientists, McDonald’s professional obituary settles the biographical question far more convincingly than it settles the disputed-death question.
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Endnotes
1.
Source: libguides.library.arizona.edu
Link:https://libguides.library.arizona.edu/c.php?g=1035482&p=8671117
Source snippet
McDonald Papers (MS 412) James E. McDonald (1920-1971) was Associate Director at the University of Arizona's Institute of Atmospheric Phy...
2.
Source: azarchivesonline.org
Title: James E
Link:https://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead%2Fuoa%2FUAMS412.xml
Source snippet
McDonald papers, (1904-1997)James E. McDonald papers. Inclusive Dates: 1904-1997. Physical Description... UFO Journals: Canadian UFO Re...
3.
Source: azarchivesonline.org
Link:https://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?brand=default&doc.view=toc&docId=ead%2Fuoa%2FUAMS412.xml&toc.id=0
Source snippet
UntitledJames E. McDonald papers, 1904-1997. Collection... Subgroup I: UFO Research Files, 1904-1971... Series V: Photographic Material...
4.
Source: books.google.com
Link:https://books.google.com/books?id=mDYVAAAAIAAJ
Source snippet
Google BooksSymposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings...90-2, July 29, 1968 - United States. Congress. House. Science and Astron...
Published: July 29, 1968
5.
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Title: Books Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects: Hearings, Ninetieth Congress
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6.
Source: info-quest.org
Title: Statement by Dr. James E Mc Donald on UFOs
Link:https://info-quest.org/documents/mcdonald.html
7.
Source: ufor.asn.au
Title: UFORDr James E Mc Donald’s Archives
Link:https://www.ufor.asn.au/archives/articles/james-e-mcdonald-ufo-researcher-archives/
8.
Source: wikidata.org
Title: James E. Mc Donald
Link:https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1374577
9.
Source: azarchivesonline.org
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Title: American Meteorological Society Journalsnecrology
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Source snippet
James E. McDonald, profes- sor of atmospheric sciences at the Institute of Atmo- spheric Physics at the Uni- versity of Arizona and AMS...
18.
Source: kirkmcd.princeton.edu
Title: Kirk Mc Djames edward mcdonald
Link:https://kirkmcd.princeton.edu/JEMcDonald/mcdonald_memorial.pdf
Source snippet
Kirk McDjames edward mcdonald - 1920-1971hundreds of people and made detailed analyses of possible explana- tions. He maintained that the...
19.
Source: kirkmcd.princeton.edu
Title: Kirk Mc Dbib_jem.DV I
Link:https://kirkmcd.princeton.edu/JEMcDonald/bib_jem.pdf
20.
Source: kirkmcd.princeton.edu
Link:https://kirkmcd.princeton.edu/JEMcDonald/mcdonald_jaas_1_41_59.pdf
21.
Source: kirkmcd.princeton.edu
Title: Kirk Mc DSHG
Link:https://kirkmcd.princeton.edu/JEMcDonald/mcdonald_obituary_bams_71.pdf
Source snippet
Kirk McDSHG - McCarthy Dissertation...26 Jun 2009 — James Edward McDonald... He maintained that the pursuit of satisfactory explanations...
22.
Source: william-branham.org
Title: James E Mcdonald
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Title: 07112012 issue
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Title: words 333333.txt
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Additional References
31.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvQkEPSd46U
Source snippet
Dr. James E. McDonald September 24, 1968 lecture, UFOs: A Case Study in Public Mis-information...
Published: September 24, 1968
32.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Dr. James E. Mc Donald
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzCQvC0cTKI
Source snippet
James E. McDonald UFO scientist James E. McDonald: The UFO Scientist Who Wouldn’t Back Down...
Published: September 24, 1968
33.
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 'Science In Default' by Professor James E. McDonald...
Published: May 7, 1920
34.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krMjwsEl0PA
Source snippet
Dr. James E. McDonald talks physical evidence of UFOs and the lack of scientific importance, 1967...
35.
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
36.
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Link:https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/8861-james-e-mcdonald
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Source: sterlingwhite.com
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