Felix Ziegel Scientist

Felix Yurievich Ziegel (Russian: Феликс Юрьевич Зигель, born March 20, 1920, Moscow, Soviet Russia, - died November 20, 1988, Moscow, USSR) was a Soviet researcher, Doctor of Science and docent of Cosmology at the Moscow Aviation Institute, author of more than forty popular books on astronomy and space exploration, generally regarded as a founder of Russian ufology. Ziegel, co-organizer of the first ever officially approved Soviet UFO studying group, became an overnight sensation when, on November 10, 1967, speaking on the Soviet central television, he made an extensive report on the UFO sightings registered in the USSR and encouraged viewers to send him and his colleagues first-hand accounts of their observations, which resulted in barrage of letters and reports. Having lost the final of his many battles with detractors in 1976, Ziegel continued his studies unofficially. He died in November 1988, leaving unpublished 17 volumes of his research in his daughter's archives.