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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. 18 …Some of these statements which lead to mis- conceptions are: —(1) Only UFO "buffs" report UFO…
  • p. 19 …One great misconception is that only UFO buffs report UFO's; quite the opposite is the…
  • p. 25 …saw their very impressive and sur- prising UFO files, the pattern of which is entirely different…
  • p. 39 …files and modes of operation of both private and official (i.e., Project Bluebook) UFO investigative…
  • p. 41 …Misinter- preted natural phenomena (Hypothesis 3) do explain many sincerely -submitted UFO reports; but, as I…
  • p. 45 …It summarizes about 750 UFO cases in the NICAP files up to about
  • p. 46 …Reference 7 is another now -accessible source of extremely significant UFO documentation; it is unfortunate that…
  • p. 54 …Longview, Wash., July 8, 1949 Many of the UFO cases I am citing are drawn intentionally…
  • p. 60 54 terrestrial hypothesis for UFOs, incomprehensibility must be expected as almost inevitable. Hence there is more…
  • p. 63 …NICAP files. The article, by Post reporter Jimmie Woods, represents one of those rare UFO feature…
  • p. 68 …5) remarks that an astronomer working under con- tract to the official UFO investigatory program interviewed…
  • p. 70 …UFO sightings by meteorologists could be extended very con- siderably by drawing on my file of…
  • p. 72 …the UFO problem in the ensuing two-year period. Many details from the official file on…
  • p. 75 …In my files are many other "balloon" cases from the past twenty years, cases that ought…
  • p. 76 …The third target was spotted visually by myself," Hemphill's signed statement in the case -file…
  • p. 78 …25), who evidently drew his information from the official files. Ruppelt (Ref. 5) states that when…
  • p. 79 …unknowns in official files to be ignored. A famous case in UFO annals involved a B…
  • p. 86 …explanations for classic UFO cases that have been made in the official files in the last…
  • p. 91 …Official file on October 15, 1948 Fukuoka case, Project Bluebook. 43. Melbourne (Australia) Sun, December 16…
  • p. 120 …During that night, and several succeeding nights, there were many reports of UFO's over northern…
  • p. 128 …THE UFO PROPULSION PROBLEM By way of introducing the propulsion problem of UFO's, I will…
  • p. 185 179 rod N.T.TuDE tOURIE 3• MOTION OF UFO SYSTIM a..„. — 73 2.3 2…
  • p. 206 …for a UFO. This viewpoint is absolutely nonsense and the Air Force files bear witness to…
  • p. 207 …But such behavior does not imply, as the UFO addicts argue, the presence of an intelligence…
  • p. 208 …He watches the UFO for a minute or two until it finally disappears. He cannot be…
  • p. 218 …UFO presence. This can be done with existing information. Up- date and upgrade the files with…
  • p. 224 …claimed to have observed a UFO. Interestingly enough the official files con- tain fewer than 12…
  • p. 239 …Indeed, at present the scientific study of the UFO problem is greatly hampered by the circumstance…
  • p. 244 …The dotted line represents "re- liable" sightings in the files of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization…
  • p. 245 …Many radar sightings of UFO's are on file. In a few cases, a UFO has…
  • p. 247 …He states that he has on file more than 300 UFO sightings prior to the 20th…
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.