Documents / Hearing transcript
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.
“The Advance”52 pages
11 like a permanent echo. It stayed on the scope for 1 1 / 2 minutes. These pips were at no time caused by malfunction of the radar set. It was daylight when it ( the object) seemed to fade both visually outdoors and electronically indoors." And another sighting—in Northern Michigan—on July 29 of last year, a pilot chased a brilliant multicolored object close to the horizon, and due north. He flew at 21,000 feet, followed the object for over a half-hour but could not gain on it. Radar operator reported contact with the object for about thirty seconds. And ground control interceptor station reported blips too. In this case, it seems certain that our harried pilot was pursuing Capella! Reference to a star map will show that at his latitude, at the time of his sighting, Capella was at lower culmination, that is, at the lowest point of its swing around the pole just skirting the horizon. I have seen it at that position myself in Canada, and, can vouch for the fact that its blue, yellow, and red twinkling can be spectacular. Unfortunately, neither Capella nor any other star can explain many other nocturnal meandering lights. But there is no question in my mind, just to make this point exceedingly clear, that there exists a relatively simple, naturalexplanation for them, perhaps even ordinary aircraft under special test condi- tions. The chief point here, is to suggest that nothing constructive is accom- plished for the public at large—and therefore for science in the long run— by mere ridicule and the implication that sightings are the products of "bird- brains" and "intellectual flyweights." In short, it would appear that the flying saucer situation has always been a problem in science -public -relations, and that fine chance has consistently been missed to demonstrate on a national scale how scientists can go about analyzing a problem. A lot is said about theproper interpretation of science to the public, but the only answer they receive to a question about which they are more widely concerned than perhaps any other in this century, is ridicule. Ridicule is not a part of the scientific method and the public should not be taught that it is. Let me quote an additional report, to show that the original flying disks, as distinct from wandering lights, are still with us. On the day that our pilot chased Capella, a radio from Seattle announced that flying saucers were seen heading toward Montana. At an airport in Mon- tana several pilots gathered outside the hangars to wait and watch. A perfect set-up for suggestibility—and yet, quoting from one of the many signed state- ments, "Objects were seen that resembled flat disks reflecting sun's rays. One of the objects hovered from three to four minutes, while the other three circled around it like satellites. Then the stationary object moved southeast to dis- appear, while the three satellites moved due west and disappeared—at very high speeds !" And from another observer: "After watching for approximately five minutes I was able to see what appeared to be a disk, white or metal in color approach- ing from the west. As it moved directly overhead it turned generally north at a 90 0 turn, then slowing down and then making several more 90° turns and proceeding east. After seeing this I knew what I was looking for and was able to pick up at least five more of these objects. Being skeptical, I did my best to see them as either dandelion seeds or other small particles close to the sur- face of the earth rather than large objects at extreme distance. However, after keeping them in sight long enough to study their appearance they definitely seemed to be very high. I won't make an estimate of the height since I did not know their size. All of these appeared in the west and proceeded east at what appeared to be an extremely high rate of speed." I submit that this Air Force lieutenant was not incompetent, but rather that his manner of reporting—as far as it went—was commendable and that his report, made in good faith, is therefore entitled to a hearing without prejudice or ridicule, but also, without fanfare, hysteria, and fantastic news- paper publicity. I cautioned against the then prevalent attitude of ridicule, pointing out that the UFO phenomenon, which had generated vast publicinterest, represented an unparalleled opportunity to demonstrate to the public the operation of the scientific method in attacking a problem, and that "ridicule is not a part of the scientific method and the public should not be taught that it is." In those years and the following ones I repeatedly asked for the upgrading of the method of reporting UFO's to the Air Force. In
Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.