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This file is a US Atomic Energy Commission transcript of a secret conference on aerial phenomena held at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on 16 February 1949. A cover letter from the AEC Santa Fe office dated 22 March 1949 accompanies it. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz describes the New Mexico green fireballs, including the Starvation Peak sighting of 12 December 1948 and the 30 January 1949 fall over Texas. He argues they were not conventional meteorites. Edward Teller, Norris Bradbury and others discuss the missing sound and the long horizontal paths but reach no conclusion.
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..• • Conference on AERIAL PBENOMl!l1'A Page 22 it ,-,as 1mposaible to make an estimate of the approximate wave and engatroms without detailed spectroscopic equipment, wich he did not possess. So whether the Captain e.otually cut out the spectrum charts and sent them to him or not, I don't know, but it was considered. Dr. Bn.dbury: W~ll, we're not COJD1J38 up vith ~ bright ideas for you very fast. Mr. Nevburger: 1'o, but a.a long as we .have the problem presented to you, maybe by ·thinking on thia, you will cane up w;i.th an idea! . . . . . Of course, you knov our entire connection _m th started vith Madelyn Gwynn Merchant back in 1946! Dr. Le.Paz: Except 'for the flying discs, nothing tbat you could se.y ,rould cause m greater embarrassment! I have actually had conmun1cat1ons from Madelyn myself'. Dr. Teller: Your statement of' the absence of sound when this thing has gone apparently overhead at the distance of 10 miles, within earshot ot people. Dr. LaPaz: '!'hat seems 1ncomprehens1ble, doesn't 1t, Dr. Teller? I'm glad to hear you say that because that has been my teellng tram the begimu.ns. And we tried desperately to get confirming evidence ,menever sounds were men.. tioned. No reports ~ve been obtained. Dr. Teller: I must say that the admission in ffllich one could get •o•• typicel phenomenon 1 s aamethiDg in the light of .... Dr. LaPaz: Kap~ told me be was going to get out one ot bis old blov preBeure tubes and begin experimenting as soon ae he returned from the UCLA, to see it he could duplicate in any wa;r the descriptions we have g1ven him. Dr. Hollovay: What sound does a. P-.2 make when it goes overhead? Dr. LaPaz: I can tell you vb.at t!,.ey make when th~y came ~- Comdr. Man~lkorn: I can tell you *t they make when they go overhead at the height of about 1,000 yards. But anythu>g man-made that passes overhead at the heigltt ot 8•10 miles, at this ap~ed, could be inaudible. Dr. Teller: You think it could be? Comdr. Ma.ndelkorn: I think 1t could b~. 'lb.e only . Dr. Tf:ller: Even it it went at the speed. ot 10 m11,s pe2: eecond't Comdr. MBndel.korn: Well, Dr. Teller: You see, at that time, the ..... begins to c01111e up. Dr. La.Pa&: You bet it does.
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