Claude Poher
French space agency scientist who founded the world’s first official government UFO study unit
| Claude Poher | |
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[ IMAGE PLACEHOLDER ]
portrait, illustrative placeholder | |
| Born | 1936 |
|---|---|
| Died | — |
| Nationality | France |
| Category | Scientist / government official |
| Known for | |
| Roles | Astrophysicist, CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales); founding director, GEPAN (predecessor to GEIPAN) |
| Status | Confirmed official roleMainstream scientific credentials |
Claude Poher is a French astrophysicist and engineer at CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) who founded GEPAN in 1977, the world’s first dedicated official government scientific unit for UFO study, later reorganized as GEIPAN.
Assessment
Poher’s founding of a genuinely scientific, government-embedded study unit represented a methodological milestone distinct from most other countries’ approaches at the time, and the institution he founded, later directed by Jean-Jacques Velasco, remains active today.
[1]See also
References
- ^ CNES/GEPAN founding documentation, 1977.