Lincoln LaPaz

Registry record

Past roles

Director, University of New Mexico Institute of Meteoritics

Credentials

Meteoriticist; university institute director

UAP involvement

Investigated New Mexico green fireballs from Dec 1948; reported his own Starvation Peak observation; took part in the 1949 Los Alamos conferences

Principal disclosures

Proposed non-meteor interpretations of the green fireballs

Evidence contributed

Firsthand observation account; investigative correspondence and reports

Knowledge type

Firsthand witness (one event) and investigator

Corroboration

FBI memorandum of 1949-03-22 (FBI UFO Part 6); FBI UFO Part 11 correspondence; Sandia Base file DOW-UAP-D017

Assessment

Documented participation; his interpretations were debated and his colour/trajectory values are descriptions, not instrument measurements

Last reviewed

2026-11-12

Evidence (2)

• LaPaz reported seeing a yellow-green luminous object at Starvation Peak: near-instant full brightness, nearly horizontal path, about two seconds, silent DocumentedFirsthand
  E-V99-001 · 1948-12 · Investigator firsthand account
• LaPaz correspondence on green fireballs proposing non-meteor interpretations DisputedFirsthand
  E-V99-002 · 1948-1950 · Correspondence