Review of the University of Colorado Report on Unidentified Flying Objects by a Panel of the National Academy of Sciences

C~A A~-
of' the
- 1 1 L ~ C6loradop Report on Unidentif~ied Flying OL'jccts,
by a
Pancl,'of the National Acadubfy, of -Sciences
'The panel was appointed ih the la ttcrpart -of Octohecr and
-eart.y Npvember 1968., The charge to' the, Pa'nel was "to provide ain
independent 9asse,§ýmcnt of ýthe- sc6pc, ine~thodoJlogy, -and finidings, 6f
the- (University -of Col1orado) study as refilccted-in the (University's')
Reoft. WletePne.1 largeqly restrict-ed its re~view to this
9 cýharge,, it was thought botn a~ppropr-iate afid nbces'sar'y that the
:Pancl become faufiiiiar, with various scic-entlficý 'o *nts of view asi
_pre~scntc.-d in other publ:icatibns and -reports b'y technically trainEd,
S pqrmons.. -
It was not the task of 'the,'Panel to Conduct its, own study
-of' UFOs. or to 'invite advocates, scientif icall y trained, or -not . of'
Vatfous po,:*hts of view 'to hearings.- The t6ask-was to study the
Un55iVersity'sRep-orf and- to assess:, First, its; scope-; namcly,
d~id" 'theRepq'iT, in the 'opinion of the Pane:ý, cover' those topits-
thcA~t a sclenti~fi6 study of 'UFO' phenomaen~a 'should have embracecj-?
*, Second,, its ffiethodology; namely'; aOid' tib Re-port,. in the opinion
of -,the.YPane1,--reveal ati accepae sihtif'ib-methodology and
40~ro46 to thce- subject? Third,, itý fihdihgs; namely, were the
-Y-;.cnCus'p~ns -anid. interpretations warxzift~d iby the 6'idence and
Iye -aspresented'in the R6Port affd wer'e they reasonable? 9
Iift'h6 course of its review the Pahi~l coilsulted papers -ioi
tihe'same.'subject by teph'nica'J.ly trained pe~rsons (for example,
-W~llibni Marko'wi~tz, "IThe Physic6s and, Metaphysics of 'Unidefitif iedi
Flying., Ob-jects," Scie~nce,, 157, 19' pp. ."1274-79,. Jamies E.
VMcl~ofald,, 11Sc1,n&en_'T~e'_cnology and UPOs,w1 presented, Januiary 26,
'1968,' at a General Sepnciir, of the United Aircraft': Reseci'ch
9I,Aboiatories', }2ast flaftfbs j, Connectdctit. James E. McDonald,
f1IUFOs, a- Ah International 'Scientikr-c Problcihi,"l prc~ented 'March 12,,
196, ýat the Canadiah -Aeronauti~cs and, Space Institute Ast*i'&haut~ics
Symposiumý, 116ntreal), Canhada. Jamies E~. McDonald', I'týecn on
Internatio6nal Scientifio Alspects of' the Prob~lems of Uriidc'nti-f led
P.i~yilng Objects," ,sent to thie 'United Nationis -on June, 7,,, 19G7,
Dool 11. Mbnze.J,ý,. -Plying- Saucers, Harvard Uriivcrisitty rs~
9(C~b~dge152'. 'J~f ~JT~hze End 'Lylc 'G'. Boyd:', T'he VWorld
of-Fying Sa'uce~rs, Doublechoy (New York~, 1%,3). Report fI Leigs
5C7cScc :i~ff7~ sory Panel. on Unidle:tif iod V J~yc~j~s,
Jauri PT.lF-7 F-T6V T Q8i)i.
-Advisory 1)c;.-rd, ad, hoc Z564.7-Efec'ec5k
I: '1Zf ~ ~ 0.9,ii)i'1.fnGc ctpsLuWI~i' ~ xh~~FTIyin UI7Jets'E, koTings
Represcntatives, 1ýinetic th Congress, Second Session, July 20, J.9CB).