John Mack, the Harvard psychiatrist who became renowned for his controversial research of people who claimed to be abducted by aliens, died Monday when he was struck by an alleged drunken driver in London. He was 74.
Mack won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1977 biography of the World War I British soldier T. E. Lawrence, who became known as Lawrence of Arabia. But it was his later research of purported alien abductees and extraterrestrial UFOs that earned him international fame and no little scorn from colleagues.
In 1994, Harvard Medical School launched a 14-month investigation of Mack’s body of research, ultimately concluding that he deserved to retain his tenure. But his skeptics were many. Before his death, Mack had interviewed and counseled hundreds of people who claimed they had been abducted by space aliens.
John Mack spoke to On Point in June of 2002. Hear his 2002 Radio Diary in which he described his extraterrestrial research.
Guests:
