Philip J. Klass
A prominent skeptic, he was referred to as the "Sherlock Holmes of Ufology."
Philip Klass graduated university with an electrical engineering degree and began his career in aviation electronics. As the "flying saucer" craze gripped the United States, Klass began to follow the subject. His first real investigation into an alleged UFO sighting was an incident near Exeter, New Hampshire. Klass applied his electrical engineering mind and found a prosaic explanation, plasma sparks from nearby power lines and with this his career as a skeptic began. He was criticized for this theory, but Klass remained focused on debunking sightings with simple natural and earthly explanations.
A polarizing figure within the UFO community, Klass butted heads with many of the prominent Ufologists of his time, including J. Allen Hynek, James E McDonald and Stanton Friedman. He always remained true to his skeptic beliefs and was a founding fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry in 1976. He famously offered a $10,000 prize for any hard UFO evidence, but no one accepted the offer prior to his death in 2005 at the age of 85.
