Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the printed record of a July 29, 1968 symposium on unidentified flying objects held by the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. J. Edward Roush. The committee heard statements from six scientists: J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald, Carl Sagan, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder and Robert M. L. Baker. It also printed papers from Donald Menzel, Stanton Friedman, Frank Salisbury and others. Hynek argued that puzzling UFO reports from competent witnesses deserve serious scientific study.
“Nevers”43 pages
95 galaxy are correct, there is no reason why the earth should be singled out for interstellar visits. A greater frequency of visits could be expected if there were another planet populated by a technical civilization within our solar system, but at the present time there is no evidence for the existence of one. Related to the interstellar observer idea are the "contact" tales, contemporary reports of the landing of extraterrestrial space vehicles on earth. Unlike the UFO reports, these tales display a striking uniformity. The extraterrestrials are de- scribed as humanoid, differing from man only in some minor characteristic such as teeth, speech, or dress. The aliens—so the "contactees" report—have been ob- serving earth and its inhabitants for many years, and express concern at "the present grave political situation." The visitors are fearful that, left to our own devices, we will destroy our civilization. The contactee is then selected as their "chosen intermediary" with the governments and inhabitants of earth, but some- how the promised political or social intervention never materializes. Psychological Factors. The psychologist Carl Jung pointed out that the frequency and persistence of these contact tales—not one of which has been confirmed by the slightest sort of objective evidence—must be of substantial psychological significance. What need is fulfilled by a belief that unidentified flying objects are of extraterrestrial origin? It is noteworthy that in the contact tales, the spacecraft and their crews are almost never pictured as hostile. It would be very satisfying if a race of advanced and benign creatures were devoted to our welfare. The interest in unidentified flying objects derives, perhaps, not so much from scientific curiosity as from unfulfilled religious needs. Flying saucers serve, for some, to replace the gods that science has deposed. With their distant and exotic worlds and their pseudoscientific overlay, the contact accounts are acceptable to many people who reject the older religious frameworks. But precisely because people desire so intensely that unidentified flying objects be of benign, intelligent, and extraterrestrial origin, honesty requires that, in evaluating the observations, we accept only the most rigorous logic and the most convincing evidence. At the present time, there is no evidence that unambiguously connects the various flying saucer sightings and contact tales with extraterrestrial intelligence. BIBLIOGRAPHY Jung, Carl G., Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies (New York 1959). Menzel, D. H. and Boyd, L. G., The World of Flying Saucers: A Scientific Eoami- nation of a Major Myth of the Space Age(New York 1963). Ruppelt, Edward J., The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (New York 1956). Shklovsky, Iosif S., and Sagan Carl, Intelligent Life in the Universe (San Fran- cisco 1966). Tacker, Lawrence J., Flying Saucers and the U.S. Air Force (Princeton 1960). Vallee, Jacques, Anatomy of a Phenomenon (Chicago 1965). CARL SAGAN, Department of Astronomy, Cornell University. Thank you. Mr. HECHLER. Dr. Sagan, there have been some recent experiments at Green Bank, W. Va., with its 300-foot telescope, in an attempt to synchronize this with the Arecibo dish1 in such a way as you might in effect produce almost a 2,000-mile diameter collecting surface for trying to receive signals from the pulsars. I wonder if this isn't the type of specific activity in radio astronomy that could utilize some additional support in order to ascertain the truth about terrestrial life and signals therefrom? Dr. SAGAN. Congressman Hechler, as a member of the faculty at Cornell that runs the observatory, I would find some problem an- swering that. Mr.HECHLER.But not of West Virginia,however? Dr. SAGAN. That is right. The study of pulsars, as I indicated to Chairman Miller, is relevant. •The development of a long base-line parameter of the sort you talked about is of great interest to many areas of radio astronomy, and conceivably to the area we are talking about.
Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.