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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. 10 …many other countries, for it is a gross mistake to think that the United States has…
  • p. 12 …are frequently sensationalized on one page with gross disregard for accuracy and documentation; the result is…
  • p. 27 …We are all aware of the gross errors in distances, heights, and speeds so estimated. And…
  • p. 143 …give at least limited insight into the gross characteristics of an advanced civilization. These studies (probablynot…
  • p. 158 …Photographs (color) of exterior eyes (gross)2. Goniometry 3. Visual Acuity (quantitated) 4. Color Vision (quantitated…
  • p. 163 …Photographs of exterior eyes (gross): (Taken with a Zeiss 1.5 F. lens from 15 cm…
  • p. 168 …no awkwardness or other abnormalities in any gross or fine movements. Foot dexterity and Figure eight…
  • p. 170 …other nervous system functioning (even although no gross neurologic signs can be elicited). One likely effect…
  • p. 176 …There is no gross impairment in this area (as evidenced by responses to hypothetical questions) but…
  • p. 194 …Many gross mental aberrations, such as hallucina- tions and delusions, are not associated with abnormal physical…
  • p. 218 …time of day and year; atmospheric conditions (cloudy, humid, temperature, calm, and other easily recountable gross…
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13) Markowitz, W. (1967) Science, Vol. 157, pp. 1274-1279.
14) McDonald, J. (1967) The UFO Phenomenon - A New Frontier
Awaiting Serious Scientific Exploration," (An article on an interview
with Dr. McDonald by Nyla Crone) Arizona Daily Wildcat, April 6,
pp. 6 to 8.
15) Menzel, D. H. (1953) Flying Saucers, Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, Mass.
16) Minas, J. S. and Ackoff, R. L. (1964) "Individual and Collective
Judgements," Chapt. 17 in Human Judgements and Optimality,
Edited by M.W. Shelly, II and G. L. Bryan, John Wiley and Sons,
New York, pp. 351-359.
17) O'Keefe, J.A. (1967) Letter dated October 26.
18) Page, T. (1968) "Photographic Sky Coverage for the Detection
of UFO's," Science, Vol. 160, pp. 1258-1260.
19) Powers, W.T. (1967) "Analysis of UFO Reports," Science,
7 April, 1967, p. 11.
20) Robey, D. H. (1960) "A Hypothesis on the Slow Moving Green
Fireballs," Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 17,
No. 11.
21) Rosa, R. J. , Powers, W. T., Valee, J. F. , Gibbs, T. R. P.,
Steffey, P.C., Garcia, R.A. and Cohen, G. (1967) Science,
Vol. 158, pp. 1265-1266.
22) Shklovskii, L.S. and Sagan C. (1966) Intelligent Life in the
Universe, Holden-Day, Inc. San Francisco.
23) Singer, S. (1963) in Problems of Atmospheric and Space Electricity,
edited by S. C. Coroniti, Elsevier Publishing Company, New York,
p. 463.
24) Tacker, L. J. (1960) Flying Saucers and the United States Air
Force, Van Nostraud, Princeton, New Jersey.
25) Walker, S., III (1968) "Establishing Observer Creditability:
A Proposed Method," Journal of the Astronautical Sciences,
Vol. XV, No. 2, pp. 92-96.
26) Wooldridge, D. E. (1968) Mechanical Man: The Physical Basis of
Intelligent Life, McGraw-Hill, New York, Chapt. 19.

Cases discussed

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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.