Documents / Hearing transcript

Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

U.S. House of Representatives · 1968-07-29 · 256 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 5 …Carl Sagan, associate professor of astronomy, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University 86 Dr…
  • p. 8 …Carl Sagan, Department of Astronomy and Center for RadiophYsics and Space Research, Cornell University; Dr. Robert…
  • p. 91 …Our next participant is Dr.Carl Sagan. Dr. Sagan is associate professor of astronomy in the…
  • p. 92 …CARL SAGAN, DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N.Y. Dr. SAGAN. Thank you very much…
  • p. 95 …electrical pulses he can't explain? Dr. SAGAN. Yes, sir. There are now five objects in…
  • p. 96 …t that a rather arbitrary statement? Dr. SAGAN. I don't think so. Perhaps you can…
  • p. 98 …UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS* (by Carl Sagan) Unidentified flying objects (UFO's) is the generic term for…
  • p. 101 …CARL SAGAN, Department of Astronomy, Cornell University. Thank you. Mr. HECHLER. Dr. Sagan, there have been…
  • p. 102 …trying to do things in Australia? Dr. SAGAN. To the best of my knowledge there is…
  • p. 103 …I believe you coauthored a book with a Russian, is that correct? Dr.SAGAN. That is…
  • p. 104 …say there is extra- terrestrial life? Dr. SAGAN. Yes, sir; it certainly would, but not cinch…
  • p. 113 …one basket. I certainly agree with Dr. Sagan's view that there are these very intense…
  • p. 143 …See, for ex- ample, Shklovskii and Sagan (1966), chapters 27, 28, 30, and 34. (6) Technological…
  • p. 151 …and Sagan C. (1966) Intelligent Life in the Universe, Holden-Day, Inc. San Francisco. 23) Singer…
  • p. 196 …a real free for all. Dr. Sagan. Dr. SAGAN. I just wanted to underline one point…
  • p. 197 191 Dr. SAGAN. That is just what I was going to say. Certain velocity and altitude…
  • p. 199 …barium, although that seems somewhat unlikely. Dr. SAGAN. So some comparison analysis has been made for…
  • p. 203 …McDonald, Dr. Harder, Dr. Hynek, and Dr. Sagan, I believe that you people have made a…
  • p. 225 …R.; Sagan, C., "A Search for Life on Earth at KilometerResolution," Icarus, Vol. 5, January 1966…
  • p. 245 …While Sagan (1963) fails to see any pattern be- cause of the noise, other investigators feel…
  • p. 251 …Cri- terion Books, New York. 285 pp. Sagan, C. 1963. Unidentified flying objects. The Encyclopedia Amen…
98
Mr.
Rousii.
Suppose
we
discover
there
is life
on
Mars,
in
some
form,
wouldn't
this
almost
cinch
your
case,
and you
could
say
there
is
extra-
terrestrial
life?
Dr.
SAGAN.
Yes,
sir;
it
certainly
would, but
not
cinch
our
case
about
extraterrestrial intelligence.
'Conceivably, there
might
be
a low
form
on
Mars. If
there
is
Martian
life,
it
is
of
interest
how
low
it
is.
If
there
is
intelligence
on
Mars—but we
don't
know
there
is
intelligence
on
Mars—then
we
don't
have
to
grasp
that
evolution
process.
Mr.
Rousx.
I
would
like
to
finish
this
morning's
session
just
by
telling
of
a
cartoon
I
saw
which
I
think
Dr.
Hynek
perhaps
saw
and
enjoyed
as
much
as
I
did.
It
showed a
flying
saucer
hovering over the
Earth,
with
little
green
men
looking
down,
and
one
turned
to
the
other
and
said,
"Do
you
suppose
it is
swamp
gas
?"[Laughter.]
Dr.
HYNEK.
That
is
a
good
statement to
close
the
session
on.
Mr.
Rousn.
We
shall
reconvene at
2
o'clock
this
afternoon.
(Whereupon,
at
12:15
p.m.,
the hearing
was
recessed
to
reconveneat
2
p.m.)

Cases discussed

About this file

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.