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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.
137
technique
introduced
in recent
years
offers
more
promise for
space
surveillance.
In
my
view, the
scientific
principles
underlying the
pro-
posed
surveillance
system
are
sound,
and
a
developmental measure-
ments
program
should
be
initiated.
(4) The
software
designed
for the
FPS
-85
phase
-array
radar
at
Eglin
Air
Force
Base
be extended
in
order
to
provide
a
capability
to
detect
and
track
anomalistic
space
objects.
The
relatively
inex-
pensive
modification
could
include
the
implementation
of
trackingtechniques
such
as
those outlined in
Baker
(1967).
It should,
however,
be
clearly
borne
in
mind
that
only
a
limited
amount
of
tracking
time
(about
30
percent) could
be devoted
to
this
endeavor,
because
of
theoverriding
importance
of
the
surveillance
of
manmade
space
objects
which
is
the
basic
responsibility
of
this
radar.
(5)
Various
"listening
post"
projects
should
be
reestablished
(us-
ing
existing
instruments)
in
order
to
seek
out
possible
communica-
tions
from
other
intelligent
life
sources in the
universe.
See, for
ex-
ample,
Shklovskii
and Sagan
(1966),
chapters 27, 28, 30,
and
34.
(6)
Technological
and
behavioral pattern forecasting
studies
should
be encouraged
in
order
to give
at
least
limited insight into
the
gross
characteristics
of
an
advanced
civilization.
These
studies
(probablynot
Government funded)
should
include
the
social
-psychological
im-
plications
of
anomalistic observational
phenomena,
as well as thepsychological
impact
upon
our
own
culture
that could
be
expected
from
"contact" with
an
advanced
civilization.
(See
ch.
33
of Shklov-
skii
and Sagan
(1966)
.)
(7)
Studies should
be
initiated
in
the
psychiatric/medical
problems
of
evaluating the
credibility
of
witness'
testimony concerning
bizarre
or unusual
events.
(See
app.
3
of
this
report.)
PART
5.
AFTERWARD
All
of
the foregoing
recommendations
involve
the expenditure
of
funds,
and
we
are
all
well
aware
of
the
severe limitations
on
the
fund-
ing of
research
today.
On
the other
hand,
I
feel
that
one of
the trapsthat
we
have
fallen into,
so far,
is
reliance
on
quick
-look,
under-
manned
and
underfunded
programs
to
investigate
a tremendous
quantity
of
often
ambiguous
data.
I
would
discourage
such
programs
as being
diversionary, in
regard
to
the
overall
scientific
goal.
The
goal
of understanding
anomalistic
phenomena,
if
attained,
may
be of unprecedented importance
to the
human
race.
We
must
get a
positive
scientific
program
off
the
ground; a program
that progresses
according to the highest
scientific
standards,
has
specific
objectives,
is
well
funded,and
long term.
Thank
you.
(The
appendixes
and
attachments
to
Dr.
Baker's statement follow:)
PART
1
ABSTRACTS
FROM BAKER
(1956) RELATED TO
THE UTAH FILM—ANALYSIS
OF
PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ANALYSIS OF
THE "UTAH"
FILM TRACKING
UFO'S
Several Unidentified Flying Objects
(UFO's) were
sighted
and
photographed
at about 11 :10
MST
on July 2,
1952 by Delbert C. Newhouse
at
a
point
on
State
Highway
30, seven miles north of Tremonton, Utah
(latitude 41°
50', longitude
97-818
0-68-10

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.