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Robert Scott Lazar (/ləˈzɑːr/; born January 26, 1959) is an American conspiracy theorist who claims to have been hired in the late 1980s to reverse-engineer extraterrestrial technology at what he described as a secret site called "S-4". Lazar alleges that this subsidiary installation is located several kilometres south of the United States Air Force facility popularly known as Area 51.

Lazar claims he examined an alien craft that ran on an antimatter reactor powered by element 115, which at the time had not yet been synthesized. He also claims to have read US government briefing documents that described alien involvement in human affairs over the past 10,000 years. Lazar's claims resulted in bringing added public attention to Area 51 and fueling conspiracy theories surrounding its classified activities.

Lazar's story has since been analyzed and rejected by skeptics and some ufologists. Universities from which he claims to hold degrees show no record of him, and supposed former workplaces have disavowed him. In 1990, he was convicted for his involvement in a prostitution ring and again in 2006 for selling illegal chemicals.

Background

Lazar attended Pierce Junior College in Los Angeles. He filed for bankruptcy in 1986, where he described himself as a self-employed film processor. Lazar owns and operates United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies, which sells a variety of materials and chemicals.

Claims

Lazar has achieved notoriety as an Area 51 conspiracy theorist. In May 1989, he appeared in an interview with investigative reporter George Knapp on Las Vegas TV station KLAS, under the pseudonym "Dennis" and with his face hidden, to discuss his purported employment at "S-4", a subsidiary facility he claimed exists near the Nellis Air Force Base installation known as Area 51. He claims that the said facility was adjacent to Papoose Lake, which is located south of the main Area 51 facility at Groom Lake. He claimed the site consisted of concealed aircraft hangars built into a mountainside. Lazar said that his job was to help with the reverse engineering of one of nine flying saucers, which he alleged were extraterrestrial in origin. He claims one of the flying saucers, the one he coined the "Sport Model", was manufactured out of a metallic substance similar in appearance and touch to stainless steel. In a subsequent interview that November, Lazar appeared unmasked and under his own name, where he claimed that his job interview for work at the facility was contractor EG&G and his employer was the United States Navy; EG&G stated it had no records on him.

Lazar has claimed that the propulsion of the studied vehicle ran on an antimatter reactor and was fueled by the chemical element with atomic number 115 (E115), which at the time was provisionally named ununpentium and had not yet been artificially created. (It was first synthesized in 2003 and later named moscovium.) He further said that the propulsion system relied on a stable isotope of E115, which allegedly generates a gravity wave that allowed the vehicle to fly and to evade visual detection by bending light around it. No stable isotopes of moscovium have yet been synthesized; all have proven extremely radioactive, decaying in a few hundred milliseconds. Lazar also said the craft was dismantled, and the reactor he studied was topped by a sphere or semi-sphere which emitted a force field capable of repulsing human flesh. He explained that the craft was split into two main levels. The reactor was positioned at the center of the upper level, with an antenna extending to the top, surrounded by three "gravity amplifiers". These connected to "gravity emitters" on the lower level, which can rotate 180 degrees to output a "gravity beam or anti-gravity wave" and that the craft would then travel "belly first" into this distortion field.

Lazar additionally claimed that during his joining the program, he read briefing documents describing the historical involvement of Earth for the past 10,000 years with extraterrestrial beings described as grey aliens from a planet orbiting the twin binary star system Zeta Reticuli. As of September 2019, no extrasolar planets have been found in the Zeta Reticuli system. In 1989, Lazar said the seats of the saucer he saw were approximately child-sized and that he had seen alien cadavers of a corresponding size. He also said that while walking down a hallway at S-4, he briefly glanced through a door window and saw what he interpreted as two men in lab coats facing down and talking to "something small with long arms". Three decades later, he said he did not think he saw an alien, but speculated that he saw a doll used as reference for the size of the alleged aliens, and that a nickname used for them was "the kids".

Lazar claims to have earned a master's degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a master's degree in electronic technology from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech); however, there are no records of Lazar attending either MIT or Caltech. His supposed employment at a Nellis Air Force Base subsidiary has also been discredited by skeptics, as well as by the United States Air Force.

His alleged employment as a physicist at Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility, within the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is mentioned in multiple New Mexico newspaper articles from the summer of 1982, which focus on his interest in jet-powered cars. KLAS found a Robert Lazar in a 1982 Los Alamos National Laboratory phone directory, but the laboratory repeatedly denied having any records on him. Lazar alleges that his records have been erased; however, skeptics such as Donald R. Prothero, Stanton T. Friedman, and Timothy D. Callahan have found this to be implausible. According to Prothero, "He was employed not by the government but rather as a technician working for a private company that contracted work at Los Alamos."

Lazar's story has drawn significant media attention, controversy, supporters, and detractors. Lazar admits that he has no evidence to support his core claim of alien technology.

In 2017 Lazar's workplace was raided by the FBI and local police which Lazar theorizes was to recover "element 115", a substance he says he took from a government lab. Records obtained through a freedom of information request show the raid was part of a murder investigation.

Criminal convictions

In 1990, Lazar was arrested for aiding and abetting a prostitution ring. This was reduced to felony pandering, to which he pleaded guilty. He was ordered to do 150 hours of community service, stay away from brothels, and undergo psychotherapy.

In 2006, Lazar and his wife Joy White were charged with violating the Federal Hazardous Substances Act for shipping restricted chemicals across state lines. The charges stemmed from a 2003 raid on United Nuclear's business offices, where chemical sales records were examined. United Nuclear pleaded guilty to three criminal counts of introducing into interstate commerce, and aiding and abetting the introduction into interstate commerce, banned hazardous substances. In 2007 United Nuclear was fined $7,500 for violating a law prohibiting the sale of chemicals and components used to make illegal fireworks.

Public appearances and media

Lazar and long-time friend Gene Huff ran the Desert Blast festival, an annual festival in the Nevada desert for pyrotechnics enthusiasts. Starting in 1987, but only formally named in 1991, the name was inspired by Operation Desert Storm. The festival features homemade explosives, rockets, jet-powered vehicles, and other pyrotechnics, with the aim of emphasizing the fun aspect of chemistry and physics.

Lazar was featured in producer George Knapp and Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell's documentary Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers and Joe Rogan's podcast. Lazar had met and discussed his alleged works on UFOs with Navy pilot and commander David Fravor who witnessed the USS Nimitz UFO incident in 2004.

References

Footnotes

1. According to spotlight by KLAS-TV:
   • The schools in which Lazar claims to have studied "say they've never heard of him" (6:05)
   • Lazar alleges he worked at Los Alamos, "where he experimented with the world's largest particle beam accelerators" (6:13)
     • George Knapp: Los Alamos officials say they had no records of him ever working there (6:25)
     • George Knapp: "they were either mistaken or were lying: a 1982 phonebook from the lab lists Lazar right there among the other scientists and technicians" (news section shows the cover of a Los Alamos national laboratory phone directory, and then a list of names which includes "Lazar Robert") (6:30)
     • Los Alamos Monitor article of 1982 is shown, the date reading Sunday, June 2X (low resolution), 1982, with the title "LA man joins the jet set – at 200 miles an hour" with a picture of a man with a car, with Knapp saying that it "profiles Lazar and his interest in jet-cars". It zooms in on the clipping to an excerpt which states : "It's not the car so much that's important. To Lazar, a physicist at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility, the important thing is the jet engine. It's something he's been working on for years. It started "awhile ago" when working with another researcher in NASA on the technology." (6:39)
     • George Knapp: "we called Los Alamos again. An exasperated official told us he still had no records on Lazar. EG&G, which is where Lazar says he was interviewed for the job at S4, also has no records." (6:48)
   • The news section cuts to Lazar who claims he called the schools he attended, the hospital he was born in, and his past job to get records, but to no avail. (7:00)
   • Lazar alleges his employer at S4 was the US Navy. (7:21)
2. In addition to a small, topmost level, which he speculated may have housed a kind of navigational computer
3. This, he said, functions as a guide for the gravity wave, which forms into a heart shape around the entire craft, narrowing at the bottom.

Citations

1. ^ Donald R. Prothero; Timothy D. Callahan (August 2, 2017). UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says. Indiana University Press. pp. 58, 166–169. ISBN 978-0-253-03338-3.
2. Public records, Case BK 86-01623, US Federal Bankruptcy Court, Las Vegas.(702) 388-6257
3. Friedman, Stanton (2012). UFOs: Real Or Imagined?. Rosen Publishing. p. 124. ISBN 9781448848386.
4. ^ "Don't Try This at Home". Wired. July 2006.
5. James McConnachie; Robin Tudge (February 1, 2013). Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories, The (3rd). Rough Guides Limited. pp. 296–. ISBN 978-1-4093-2454-6.
6. Christopher Hodapp; Alice Von Kannon (February 4, 2011). Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 126–. ISBN 978-1-118-05202-0.
7. Barna William Donovan (January 10, 2014). Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious. McFarland. pp. 150–. ISBN 978-0-7864-8615-1.
8. George Knapp (November 1, 2014). "Out there". KNPR.
9. ^ Knapp, George (November 8, 2019). Lazar describes alien technology housed at secret S-4 base in Nevada -- Part 5. KLAS-TV/8 News NOW Las Vegas. Section 4:38 - 7:25. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
10. Lazar & Corbell 2018. Event occurs at 9.
11. Patton, Phil (January 8, 1995). "THING; It Is Copied. Therefore, It Exists?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
12. Sharp, Tim (December 2, 2016). "Facts About Moscovium (Element 115)". Live Science. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
13. "Bob Lazar: The Man Behind Element 115". Lasvegasnow.com. 2005. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017.
14. Oganessian, Y.T. (2015). "Super-heavy element research". Reports on Progress in Physics. 78 (3): 036301. Bibcode:2015RPPh...78c6301O. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/78/3/036301. PMID 25746203.
15. Lazar & Corbell 2018. Event occurs at 32.
16. Lazar & Corbell 2018. Event occurs at 51, 1:07.
17. Laureijs RJ, Jourdain de Muizon M, Leech K, Siebenmorgen R, Dominik C, Habing HJ, Trams N, Kessler MF (2002). "A 25 micron search for Vega-like disks around main-sequence stars with ISO" (PDF). Astronomy & Astrophysics. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20020366.
18. "NASA Exoplanet Archive". NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
19. Lazar & Corbell 2018. Event occurs at 54.
20. Zimmerman, Amy (December 4, 2018). "Why Did the FBI Raid the Home of the Biggest Alien Truther?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
21. ^ Lazar & Corbell 2018. Event occurs at 47.
22. ^ Frank B. Salisbury (2010). The Utah UFO Display: A Scientist Brings Reason and Logic to Over 400 UFO Sightings in Utah's Uintah Basin. Cedar Fort, Inc. p. 146. ISBN 9781599557786.
23. ^ Radford, Benjamin (September 27, 2012). "Area 51: Secrets, Yes; Aliens, No". Live Science. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
24. "Alamogordo Daily News Archives, Jul 26, 1982, p. 8". NewspaperArchive.com. Alamogordo Daily News. July 26, 1982. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
25. England, Terry (July 30, 1982). "'Jet' isn't an idle boast on this car". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Associated Press. p. A-6. Retrieved November 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
26. David Hambling (2016). Weapons Grade. Constable & Robinson. pp. 178–180. ISBN 9781472123763.
27. "Area 51 Exhibit To Feature Russian Roswell UFO Artifact At National Atomic Testing Museum". HuffPost. March 20, 2012.
28. ^ McMillan, Tim (November 13, 2019). "Bob Lazar Says the FBI Raided Him to Seize Area 51's Alien Fuel. The Truth Is Weirder". vice.com. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
29. "Unusually Fanatical Observers". Los Angeles Times. February 4, 2003.
30. ^ "Source In Channel 8'S UFO Series Pleads Guilty to Pandering Charge". Las Vegas Review Journal. June 19, 1990. p. 8b.
31. ^ "Judge Gives UFO 'Witness' Lazar Probation on pandering charge". Las Vegas Review Journal. August 21, 1990. p. 2c.
32. "New Mexico Company Fined, Ordered To Stop Selling Illegal Fireworks Components". U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. July 20, 2007.
33. "US v. United Nuclear Scientific Supplies, et al". United States Department of Justice. 2006.
34. ^ "Desert Blast". Popular Science. April 1996. pp. 76–79.
35. ^ "Ka-Booom!!". Wired. December 1, 1994.
36. Reimink, Troy. "In 'Bob Lazar: Area 51' documentary, director investigates UFO whistle-blower's story". Freep.com. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
37. Seddon, Dan (July 19, 2019). "Area 51 details left out of Netflix's Bob Lazar documentary". Digital Spy. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
38. Rodrick, Stephen (August 20, 2020). "Loving the Alien". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
39. Knapp, George. "I-Team: UFO Fest means close encounters of a different kind". 8newsnow.com. KLAS-TV Las Vegas. Retrieved May 4, 2020.

Sources

• Lazar, Bob; Corbell, Jeremy (2018). Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers. The Orchard.

External links

• Official website

• 1959 births
• Living people
• UFO conspiracy theorists
• People from Coral Gables, Florida
• Los Angeles Pierce College people
• American conspiracy theorists