Ian Ridpath
English astronomy writer and Rendlesham Forest investigator
- Born
- 1947, Ilford, Essex
- Known for
- Editor of Norton's Star Atlas and the Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy
- UFO work
- Investigated the Rendlesham Forest incident from 1983
- Award
- Klumpke-Roberts Award, Astronomical Society of the Pacific (2012)
Astronomy author who argued that the flashing light in the 1980 Rendlesham Forest sighting was the Orford Ness lighthouse.
What is Ian Ridpath known for?
Ian Ridpath is an English science writer and broadcaster known for popular books on astronomy and for his research on the history of the constellations. He edits Norton's Star Atlas and the Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy, and in 2012 received the Klumpke-Roberts Award for public understanding of astronomy.
Ridpath was one of the first to investigate the December 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident near the RAF Woodbridge and Bentwaters air bases in Suffolk, used at the time by the US Air Force. He argued that a bright fireball seen that night started the alarm, and that the flashing light the airmen saw through the trees, including Lt Col Charles Halt, was the Orford Ness lighthouse on the coast, which lay in the direction they were looking.
He has also written that the Ministry of Defence made only a cursory investigation and did not interview the witnesses. Supporters of an unexplained event dispute his explanation.
Cited for his view that the Rendlesham Forest lights included the Orford Ness lighthouse and that the MoD's inquiry was cursory.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeRendlesham Forest and the Halt Memo
- PersonRobert Temple
- PlaceOrford Ness
- PlaceRAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Ian Ridpath'Reference
- Ian Ridpath, 'The Rendlesham Forest UFO case'Primary text
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