Bruce Maccabee
Bruce Maccabee | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Scientific investigation and analysis of UFO/UAP reports |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Optical physics |
| Institutions | U.S. Navy (Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division) |
Bruce Maccabee (1942–2024) was an American optical physicist and ufologist known for applying photographic and optical analysis to reports of unidentified flying objects. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Career
Maccabee worked as an optical physicist for the United States Navy, beginning in 1972 at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in White Oak, Silver Spring, Maryland, which later became part of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division. His professional work included optical data processing, the generation of underwater sound with lasers, and aspects of the Strategic Defense Initiative and Ballistic Missile Defense involving high-power lasers.
UFO research
Maccabee became interested in unidentified flying objects in the late 1960s. He joined the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and remained active in it until its dissolution in 1980, and he joined the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in 1975, later serving as its state director for Maryland. He is known for detailed photographic and optical analyses of UFO cases and for arguing that some reports resist conventional explanation. His paper "Prosaic Explanations: The Failure of UFO Skepticism" appeared in Infinite Energy magazine (Issue 29, 2000) and in the proceedings of the International MUFON Symposium of the same year. These positions place him outside the scientific mainstream, which does not regard UFO reports as evidence of anomalous phenomena.