Documents / Hearing transcript

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 …of advanced technological ma- chinery manned by some kind of intelligence, that is, the extrater- restrial…
  • p. 9 …American Association for the Advancement of Science; Astronomy Society(secretary). Specialty: Astrophysics. Fields of Interest: Stellar…
  • p. 19 …The Air Force has no evidence that UFO's are extra-terrestrial or rep- resent advanced…
  • p. 24 18 (The biography of Dr.McDonald follows:) DR. JAMES E. MCDONAI,D Born: Duluth, Minn., May…
  • p. 29 …from some advanced technology sufficiently advanced to do what we cannot do in the sense of…
  • p. 32 …The possibility that these are extraterrestrial devices, that we are dealing with surveillance from some advanced…
  • p. 40 …THE UNCONVENTIONAL NATURE OF THE UFO PROBLEM To both laymen and scientists, the impressive progress that…
  • p. 48 …At first, they thought it was a jet, whose exhaust was somehow accounting for the advancing…
  • p. 59 …advanced civilization of extraterrestrial origin, the pattern of the observa- tions, the motivation of the surveillance…
  • p. 75 …To ignore most of the salient features of a sighting in order to advance an easy…
  • p. 94 …Now, if we want to assess the likelihood that there are intelligentcivilizations somewhere in advance of…
  • p. 95 …be far in advance of our own,and this,therefore raises the question of how likely…
  • p. 96 …that an advance civilization comes here very rarely. But I again emphasize the great uncertainty in…
  • p. 97 91 So, to conclude what I understand is the main reason why this committee has asked…
  • p. 100 …the possibility of its development by other civilizations. But if each of, say, a million advanced…
  • p. 101 …a race of advanced and benign creatures were devoted to our welfare. The interest in unidentified…
  • p. 111 …The possible value of contact for purposes of advancing our knowledge of our technology. Let's…
  • p. 112 …again the same possible great value from under- standing the phenomenon in order to advance our…
  • p. 116 …We must then concern ourselves with the possible consequences of contact with technologically advanced civilizations whose…
  • p. 117 111 the task. We must also 'be concerned with the risks of panic resulting in people…
  • p. 124 …Gravitation remains one of the enigmas of modern science, although there have been some advances in…
  • p. 125 …This will depend upon advances in many fields of science. Some of the things required will…
  • p. 130 …Gravitation remains one of the enigmas of modern science, although there have been some advances in…
  • p. 132 …Baker's professional society memberships include the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, Phi…
  • p. 140 …There have been many debates on the technical capabilities or limits on the capabilities of advanced…
  • p. 141 135 area of forecasting the social characteristics of an advanced extrater- restrial civilization. Philosophers, social scientists…
  • p. 142 …in the environs of the earth, or to make dubious speculations either concerning "their" advanced scientific…
  • p. 143 …the gross characteristics of an advanced civilization. These studies (probablynot Government funded) should include the social…
  • p. 150 …Applications and Advanced Topics, Academic Press, New York, pp. 112-115 and pp. 376 to 392…
  • p. 153 147 00015 "Recent Advances in Astrodynamics," (with Samuel Herrick), Jet Propul- sion, 28, No. 10, 1958…
  • p. 154 …00040 "State-of-the-Art-1960 Astrodynamics,"Astronautics, 5, No. 11, 30, 1960. 00041 "Novel Orbit…
  • p. 157 …Makemson) 00071 Astrodynamics - Applications and Advanced Topics, Academic Press, New York, 1967. 00072 "Recent Advances in…
  • p. 171 …In the past five years, he has advanced from assistant bookkeeper to teller to head teller…
  • p. 174 …He has no desire to advance any further up the bank totem pole, says he never…
  • p. 189 …advanced radar systems air being de- vekii2ed for our missile defense systems, such as the ALTAR…
  • p. 190 …of the Earth or to make very dubious speculations 191, t101 either concerning "their" advanced scientific…
  • p. 203 …The primary attribute of an advanced intelligent civilization is its ability to create its own environment…
  • p. 204 …Menzel became acting Director of Harvard College Observatory and, in 1954, was advanced to the Directorship…
  • p. 207 …approach it or advances as you move away. As we look over the Air Force files…
  • p. 210 …Or at least that is the com- mon argument advanced by UFO buffs. Radar is cursed…
  • p. 212 …Life Member of American Association for the Advancement of Science. Professional Organizational Activities: State delegate to…
  • p. 217 …our level of advancement? As noted in the Special Report of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board…
  • p. 219 …Friedman has a relatively unique background in advanced technology, hav- ing been actively involved in the…
  • p. 222 …the existence of advanced civilizations. We frequently forget that the resolution of present photographs of the…
  • p. 223 …36, 37) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science is planning a UFO seminar…
  • p. 224 …reason, would not examine the data relevant to UFOs or advanced technology. Marcowitz was totally wrong…
  • p. 225 …reason, would not examine the data relevant to UFOs or advanced technology. Marcowitz was totally wrong…
  • p. 226 …B., "The Phenomenological Aspects of Magnetogasdynamic Re-entry." Presented at the 10th Midwestern Mechanics Conference, Colorado…
  • p. 227 …not alone in the Universe and surely some civilizations are more advanced than ours, but interstellar…
  • p. 233 …possible sites in advance, we could simply move in to recover the desired information after an…
  • p. 234 …The effectiveness of the proposed procedure would depend very heavily upon the amount of thought, care…
  • p. 237 …listed in advance on a 'standardized rating sheet. However this part of the experiment will not…
16
Scientific
inquiry
has
paid
off,
even
though
pioneers
like
.
Faraday,
Curie,
Hahn,
Pasteur,
Goddard, and
many
others
little
realized
where
the
paths they
blazed
would
lead.
As
far
as
UFO's
are concerned,
I
believe
we
should
investigate
them
for the simple
reason that
we
want
to
know
what
lies
behind
this utterly
baffling
phenomenon—or
even
more
simply,
we
want
to
find
out
what
it's
all
about.
Thank
you.
Mr.
RousH.
Thank
you,
Dr.
Hynek.
Although
we
have
reserved
the
latter
part
of
the
afternoon
for
our
roundtable
discussion,
the
Chair
is
well
aware
the
Members
of
Con-
gress,
because
of
other
duties,
may
not
find
it
possible
to
be
here
during
that time.
If
any
of
my
colleagues
do
have
questions
and
can keep
them
brief,
which
I
realize
is
impossible,
I
will
entertain
those questions
at
this
time.
But
keep
in
mind
that
we
have
two
more
papers
this
morning,
and
three
this
afternoon.
Mr.
HECHLER.
Mr.
Chairman.
Mr.
RousH.
Mr.
Hechler.
Mr.
HECHLER.
First
I
would
like
to
commend
you,
Mr.
Roush,
for
your
initiative
in
setting
up
this
symposium.
I
would
like
to
ask
you,
Dr.
Hynek,
whether you
consider
this
sci-
entific
board of
inquiry
which you
outlined
as
a
sort
of
a
one-shot
thing
which would
make
its
report,
or
do
you
consider
this
to
be
a
con-tinuing
body
that could
examine,
as the
Air
Force
has, reports
and
analyze
them?
And
with
this
question,
I
would
like
to
ask
if
yourassumption
is
that the
Air
Force,
because
of
its
emphasis
on
national
security,
has
really
not
measured
up
to
a
thorough
scientific
analysis
of
UFO's?
Dr.
HYNEK.
Well,
in
answer
to the
first
part
of
that
question,
sir,
I
would
say
I
don't
believe
in
a
problem
as
complex
as
this
the
one-
shot
approach
would
be
sufficient.
I
think
there
should be
this
board
of
inquiry
which
should be
a
continuing
board
in
the
same
sense
that
we
have,
I
presume, boards of study for
world
population
problems,
of
pollution
problems,
of world
health,
and
so
forth.
The
letter
that
came
with
the
invitation
to
speak
here, strongly
stated
that
we
would
not
discuss
the
Air Force
participation
in these
matters,
and
I
would
like
to
therefore
not speak
to that
point.
Mr.
Roust'.
Mr.
Rumsfeld.
Mr.
Ru
-
msFELD. Because of
the
fact
it
does look as
though
we
will
have
a
busy
afternoon
on
the
floor,
I
very
likely will
not be
present
for the remainder of the
discussion.
I
would
like
to express the
hope
the other
members
of the panel
might
at
some
point
comment
on
the
two
recommendations
that
Dr. Hynek
has
set
forth in
his
paper.
Fur-
ther,
I
would hope
that each
member
of
the panel,
during the
after-
noon
session,
might
address himself to the
questions
of
priorities.
.
Assuming
that there
is
some
agreement with
Dr. Hynek's
conclu-
sion
that
this
is
an
area
worthy of
additional
study, then the
question
for
.
Congress,.
of
course,
becomes what
is
the
priority?
This
is
a
rather
unique
situation
in that
it is
a
scientific
question that has reached thepublic prior to the time that anything
beneficial
can even be imagined.
In many
instances
a
scientific effort
is
not widely
known
to the publicuntil
it is
successful.

Cases discussed

About this file

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.