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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. 7 …We approach the question of unidentified flying objects as purely a scientific problem, one of unanswered…
  • p. 9 …Civilian with U.S. Navy 1944. Scientific Societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science; Astronomy…
  • p. 10 4 subject as rank nonsense, the product of silly seasons, and a peculiarly American craze that…
  • p. 11 …Thus my scientific reticence was based on a carefully weighed decision. In attempting analysis of the…
  • p. 24 …American Association for Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Society, Sigma Xi, American Geophysical Union, Royal Meteorological…
  • p. 30 …witnesses, members of the staff of the American Newspaper Publishers Associa- tion, were the witnesses in…
  • p. 46 …Scientists will tend to be put off by some of his scientific commentary, as well as…
  • p. 47 …Information on some of these, as well as on smaller American groups, can be found in…
  • p. 76 …have been ignored as indicators of some scientifically intriguing problem demand- ing intensive study.2. Case…
  • p. 91 …UFOs—An International Scientific Problem, paper presented at a Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Canadian Aeronautics…
  • p. 118 …Navy, 1944-45.Scientific Societies: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancementof Science, Society of…
  • p. 131 …Phillips, American Scientist, v. 53, no. 1, p. 32). Fused silica fibers have been stressed to…
  • p. 132 …Baker's professional society memberships include the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, Phi…
  • p. 147 …REFERENCES (1) The "American Nautical Almanac" 1950. (2) H. 0. No. 214, "Tables of Computed Altitude…
  • p. 156 …00060 "Influence of Martian Ephemeris and Constants on Interplanetary Trajectories," Chapter in Exploration of Mars, American…
  • p. 202 …25 adult Americans has seen a UFO. Judging from the one detailed, official, scientific investigation that…
  • p. 204 …Originally operated jointly by Harvard and the University of Colorado, this scientific institution is now wholly…
  • p. 213 …a paper presented in a symposium sponsored by Division 21, Engineering Psychology, at the American Psychological…
  • p. 214 …As a member of the Parapsychological Association and the American So- ciety of Clinical Hypnosis, I…
  • p. 215 …1) The Scientific Attitude Survey ( Sprinkle, 1962) is not useful in assessing "scientific" attitudes, and/or…
  • p. 217 …Henderson is a member of Alpha Chi, the American Geophysical Union, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists…
  • p. 220 214 Professional affiliations include the American Physical Society, the American Nuclear Society, the American Institute of…
  • p. 223 …of the Astronautical Sciences'the American Engineer 2020 Industrial Research,' Scientific Research'8 Aviation Week and…
  • p. 225 …A., "UFO's Merit Scientific Study," Science, October 21, 1966, and Astro- nautic8 d Aeronautics, December…
  • p. 226 …of Baltimore Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Local sections of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics…
  • p. 251 …Scientific American, 200: 117-128.
126
Dr.
Baker
represented
the
United
States
Air
Force
at
the
International Astro-
nautical
Federation
meeting
in
Stockholm,
Sweden
in 1961, represented
the
United
States
at
the
International
Union
of
Theoretical
and
Applied
Mechanics
European
Conferences
in
1962
and
in
1965
and
was
an
invitee to
the
Astronomi-
cal
Councile of the
Academy
of
Sciences
of
USSR
in
Moscow
in
1967.
He
was
voted
an
Outstanding
Young
Man
of the
Year by
the Junior
Chamber
of
Com-
merce
in
1965.
From
1963
to
1964
he
was
the National
Chairman
of the
..listro-
dynamics
Technical
Committee
of
the
American
Institute
of
Aeronautics
and
Astronautics
and
is
currently
a
member
of
Computer
Sciences
Technical
Com-
mittee.
Dr. Baker
has
been
the Editor
of the
Journal
of the
Astronautical Sciences
since
1963.
He
was
the
joint
editor
of the Proceedings
of the
1961
International
Astronautical
Federation
Congress
and
the
senior
author
of
the
first
textbook
on
astrodynamics
:
An
Introduction
to
Astrodynamics
published in 1960.
Dr.
Baker
is
the
author of four
books
and
over
70
technical
papers
(
see
Appen-
dix 2).
Dr.
Baker's
professional
society
memberships
include
the
American
Associa-
tion
for
the
Advancement
of
Science,
Phi
Beta
Kappa, Sigma
Xi,
Sigma
Pi
Sigma, American
Astronautical
Society
(Fellow),
British
Interplanetary
So-
ciety
(Fellow),
American
Institute
of Aeronautics
and
Astronautics (Associate
Fellow
and
member
of the
Computer
Sciences
Technical
Committee),
British
Astronomical
Society
(Fellow),
American
Astronomical
Society,
American
Physi-
cal
Society,
and
Meteoritical Society.
His
active security
clearance
is
top
secret.
STATEMENT OF
DR.
ROBERT
M.
L.
BAKER.,
IR.,
SENIOR
SCIENTIST,
COMPUTER
SCIENCES
CORP.,
EL
SEGUNDO,
CALIF.,
AND
FACULTY,
DEPARTMENT
OF
ENGINEERING,
UCLA
Dr. BAKER.
Fine,
thank
you,
Mr.
Roush.
I
should
like
to preface
my
remarks
by
stating
my
preference
for the
term
"anomalistic
observational
phenomena,"
as
opposed
to
the
term
"unidentified flying
objects."
Mr.
RousH.
I
observed
you
were going
to
say
that
and
I
wonder
about
some
of
my
Hoosiers
back
home
using those terms.
Dr. BAKER.
It
comes
trippingly
off
the tongue.
Mr.
RousH.
It
might
not
only cause
some
Hoosiers but
some
laymen
some
problems. It
might
be
easier
to say
UFO's.
You may
go
-ahead.
Dr. BAKER.
I
call
it
AOP.
From
the data that
I
have
reviewed
and
analyzed
since
1954,
it
is
my
belief
that there
does
exist
substantial
evidence to
support
the
claim that
an
unexplained
phenomenon—or phenomena—is
present in
the environs
of the
earth,
but that
it
may
not be
"flying,"
may
not
always be
"unidentified,"
and,
perhaps,
may
not even be
substantive"objects."
In
the following statement
I
will—
(1)
Present
a
summary
of the
analyses
that
I
have accom-
plished to
date—those
that
have
led
me
to
believe
that anomalistic
phenomena
exist;
(2)
Explain
the probable inadequacy of our
current
terrestrial
sensors in observing
and/or
defining the
characteristics
of theanomalistic
phenomena;
(3)
Suggest a number
of
tentative hypothetical sources for the
phenomena, and
the
justification
for
their
scientific
study;
(4) And,
finally,
I
will
make
specific
recommendations con-
cerning the
necessity
for
new
types of
closely related observational
and study programs which might be implemented
in
a fashion
that would permit the
detection
and
quantitative analysis
of the
anomalistic
phenomena.

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.