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.

124
remnant
magnetism
in
nearly
every
piece
of
iron
within
several
hundred
yards.
This has
not been
found.
Despite the
above
-described
observation,
there
is
little
reason
to
believe
that
magnetic
fields,
of
themselves,
could
be
of
much
use
in
propelling
a
spacecraft,
although
there
has
been
much
uninformed
speculation
about
this
in
popular
UFO
publications.
The
simple reason
is
that
we
cannot
produce
a
north
pole
without
at
the
same
time
producing
a
south
pole.
This
is
a
consequence of
fundamental
theory.
Such
a
dipole
cannot
exert
a
force
in
conjunction
with
a
uniform magnetic
field.
such
as
the
earth
may
be
assumed
to
have
in
a
given
locality,
though
it
can
produce
a
force
in
a
nonuniform
field.
To
go beyond
the
above
discussion
would
be
rather
speculative,
but
it
is
just
here that
we
find
a
stimulus
and
challenge to
scientific
theory.
It
is
almost
circu-
lar
to
say
that
when
we
find
a
phenomena
we
understand
but
vaguely
we
have
also
found
a
means
of
advancing
our
understanding;
this
has
been
particularly
true
in
astronomy. Concerning
the
propulsion
of
UFO's,
a
tentative
hypothesis
would
be
that
it
is
connected
with
an
application
of
gravitational
fields
that
we
do
not understand.
Gravitation
remains
one
of the
enigmas
of
modern
science,
although
there
have
been
some
advances
in
its
understanding
(beyond
general
relativity)
in
the
pastdecade.
There
are
theoretical
grounds
based
on
general
relativity
for
believing
there
must
exist
a
second
gravitational
field,
corresponding
to
the
magnetic
field
in electromagnetic theory,
and
that the
interaction
between
these
two
fields
must
be
similar to
that
between
the
electric
and
magnetic
fields.
This
kind
of
interac-tion
and
its
exploitation
forms
the
basis
for
our
modern
electrical
generators
and
motors.
Without
the
interaction,
we
would
be back
to
the
days
of
electrostatic at-
traction
and
of
permanent
magnets—two
phenomena
that
can
produce
only very
weak
forces
when
operating
individually.
Someday
perhaps,
we
will
learn
enough
to
apply
gravitational
forces in
the
same
way
we
have
learned to
apply
electro-
magnetic
forces.
This
will
depend
upon
advances
in
many
fields
of
science:
Some
of the
things required
will
be enormously
increased sources of
power
from
atomic
fusion; very
intense
magnetic
fields
and
current
densities,
perhaps
from
super-
conducting sources;
and
extremely
strong materials
to
contain
mechanical
forces.
Some
of
these
advances
are
approaching,
or are
on
the
horizon.
Others
we
have
yet to see
clearly.
May
I
close this
part of
our
discussion
by
recalling
the
statement that the
most
important
secret
of the
atomic
bomb was
that
it
worked. This gave
the
crucial
impetus
to other nations in
their
own
efforts
to duplicate
the
research
of the
United
States.
In
the
UFO
phenomena
we
have
demonstrations of
scientific
secrets
we
do
not
know
ourselves.
It
would
be
a
mistake,
it
seems
to
me,
to ignore
their existence. II.
UFO's AND
HIGH
-STRENGTH MATERIALS
The
instances in
which
physical
fragments
of
UFO's
have
been
found
are
dis-
appointingly
few.
To
my
knowledge,
there
is
only
one
well-authenticated
finding,
and
that
was
in Brazil
in 1957.
The
story
of
its
discovery
is
contained
in
Chap-
ter
9
of
The
Great Flying
Saucer
Hoax
(Coral
E.
Lorenzen,
The
Willeam-
Frederick Press,
New
York, 1962)
written
by Dr.
Olavo T.
Fontes.
Briefly,
several
small
metallic
fragments
were
recovered
by
some
fishermen
near the
coastal
town
of Ubatuba,
Sao
Paulo,
after
they
saw what
they
de-
scribed
as
a
brilliant
explosion
of
a
flying
disc.
'Some
of the
fiery
fragments were
extinguished in the
water near the
shore,
where
they
were
recovered.
Fontes
acquired three of the
fragments
that
weighed
less
than
a
tenth of
an
ounce
each,
and had
one
of
them
analyzed at
the Mineral Production Laboratory
in
the
Brazilian Agricultural Ministry.
The
results
of
the
first
analysis
was
that
the substance
was
magnesium
of
an
unusually high degree of
purity,
and
thatthere
was an
absence of
any
other
metallic
element (Lorenzen,
ibid.,
p. 99).
On
the
basis
of the
first
examination
a
second spectrographic
test
was
conducted,using the
utmost
care
and
the
most modern
instruments.
The
report
was
again
marked by
references to
the
"extreme
purity" of the sample.
Even
impurities
that are sometimes
detected
due
to contamination
from
the carbon rod used
as
an
electrode
were
absent.
A
further
test,
using
X
ray
diffraction, failed to turn
upany
other metallic
component.
What
could be the use of such high
-purity
magnesium
in
the context of
a
spacecraft?
One
clue
lies
in
its crystalline
structure: It
is close
packed hexag-onal,
and
is in this
regard similar to the high-strength metals beryllium
and
titanium.
Hexagonal
crystals
have but one
slip
plane,
and
this
tends to
makethem
brittle
but strong.
One
of the reasons for
slip
along crystal planes
is
that