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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. 225 …14 Spencer, D. F. and Jaffe, L. D., "Feasibility of Interstellar Travel," Acta Astronautics,Vol. IX…
  • p. 228 …508 Grant St., Pittsgurgh, Pa. 15219.) 1. Spencer, D. F. and Jaffe, L. D., "Feasibility of…
219
pearance
cannot
be
predicted
and
they
cannot
be reproduced
in
the
lab
or
in
the
field
but
they
have
been
observed.
29.
Are
there
any
other
references
of
interest
to
scientists?
Yes, References
56-62.30.
Haven't
you
biased
your
comments
by
not
discussing
at
any
length
the
work
of Marcowitz,
Menzel,
and
Klass?
The
paper
by
Marcowitz
(Ref.
12) and
the
books
by
Menzel"
and
Klass
will
undoubtedly
be read
by
scientists
of the
21st
century
as
"classics"
illustrating
a
non-scientific
approach
to
UFOs
by
people
who,
for
whatever
reason,
would
not
examine
the
data
relevant to
UFOs
or
advanced
technology.
Marcowitz
was
totally
wrong
about
fission
and
fusion
propulsion
systems,
didn't
even
consider
electromagnetic
propulsion,
and
was
obviously
unaware
of
current technology
and
the
data such
as
I
mentioned
earlier
about
UFOs.
McDonald
has
discussed
Menzels approach
in
detail,
but
let
me
also
point
out
that
in
Ref.
64,
fewer
than
30
sightings
ever
listed
as
"unknowns"
were
discussed
and no
mention
was made
of the
434
"Unknowns"
of
Ref.
3
or
even
the
71
Excellent
Unknowns
of
this
study.
I
agree with
Klass
on
only
one
item,
many
people
have
observed
glowing
plasmas;
but
I
believe
they
were
adjacent
to
vehicles
rather
than
ball
lightning
or
corona
discharge.
He
didn't
even
consider
this
possibility
despite
all
his talk
about plasmas
and
despite
the
enormous
amount
of
plasma
-vehicle
data
which
is
available.
In
summary, I
feel
that
these three
gentlemen
have
made
strong
attempts
to
make
the
data
fit
their
hypotheses
rather
than
trying to
do
the
much
more
difficult
job of
creating
hypotheses
which
fit
the
data.
FOOTNOTES
1
Letter,
the
Honorable
Edward
Rousch,
to
S.
T.
Friedman,
July
1968.
2
Friedman,
S.
T.,
"Flying Saucers
Are
Real," Astronautics
and
Aeronautics,
February1968,
p.
16.
3
Davidson,
L.,
"Flying
Saucers
An
Analysis
of
Project
Blue
Book
'Special
Report
No.
14,"
•
4
Ruppelt,
E.
J.,
""The
Report on
Unidentified
Flying
Objects,"
Doubleday,
$5.95,
1956;
Ace,
$0.50.
8
Hynek,
J.
A.
Saturday
Evening
Post,
December
17,
1966.
6
Olsen,
T.,
"The
Reference for
Outstanding
UFO
Reports,"
1966;
$5.95.
7
Hall,
R.,
"The
UFO
Evidence,"
1964,
NICAP
;
$5.
8
Vallee,
J.
"Anatomy
of
a
Phenomenon," 1965;
Regnery, $4.95;
Ace,
$0.60.
Lorenzen,'
C. and
J.,
"UFO's
Over
the Americas,"
1968;
Signet, $0.75.
u.
Letter,
Robin
B.
Sanborn
(former
chief,
Film
Evaluation
'Section,
Smithsonian
Astro-physical
Observatory)
to
Los
Angeles
Subcommittee,
National
Investigations
Committee
on
Aerial
Phenomena,
dated July 5,
1966.
Baker,
R.
M.
L.,
Jr.,
"Future
Experiments
onAnomalistic
Observational
Phenomena,"
Journal
of the Astronautical
Sciences, Vol.
XV,
No.
1,
January
1968.
11
:
44-45.
12
Markowitz,
"The
Physics
and
Metaphysics
of
Unidentified
Flying
Objects,"
Science,
157,
pp.
1274-1279
(1967).
13
"A
Fresh
Look
at Flying
Saucers,"
Time
Magazine,
August
4, 1967.
14
Spencer,
D.
F.
and
Jaffe,
L.
D.,
"Feasibility
of
Interstellar
Travel,"
Acta
Astronautics,Vol.
IX
Fasc.
2,
50-58, 1963.
15
Spence,
R.
W.,
"The
Rover
Nuclear
Rocket
Program,"
Science,
160:
3831,
May
31, 1968,
pp.
953-959.
16
Schroeder,
R.
W.,
"NERVA—Entering
a
New
Phase,"
Astronautics
and
Aeronautics
6:
5,
May
1968, pp.
42-53.
17
Luce,
J.
S.,
"Controlled
Fusion
Propulsion," Proceedings of
3rd
Symposium
on Ad-
vanced Propulsion Concepts,
Vol. 1,
Gordon and
Breach
Science Publishers,
New
York, 1963,
pp.
343-380.
18
Salisbury,
F.
B.,
"The
Possibilities
of
Life
on
Mars,"
Proceedings Conference
on
the
Exploration of
Mars
and
Venus,
Virginia
Polytechnic
Institute,
August
1965.
10
Kilsbon,
S.
N.;
Drummond,
R.
R.; Sagan,
C.,
"A
Search
for Life
on Earth
at KilometerResolution," Icarus,
Vol.
5,
January
1966,
pp.
79-98.
28
Vallee,
J.,
"The
Pattern of
UFO
Landings," Flying Saucer Review,
Special Issue,
"Hu-
manoids—A
'Surveyof
Worldwide
Reports of
Landings
of
Unconventional
Aerial Objects
and
Their
Alleged
Occupants,"
October—November
1966;
$2.
Si Hynek,
J.
A.,
"UFO's
Merit
Scientific
Study,"
Science,
October 21, 1966,
and
Astro-
nautic8
d
Aeronautics,
December
1966,
p.
4.
=Powers,
W.,
"UFO
in
1800:
Meteor
?"
Science,
160,
June
14.
1968,
p.
1260.
22
Rosa,
R.
J.,
Powers,
W.
T., Vallee,
J.,
Gibbs,
T. R.
P.,
1
Steffey,
P.
C.,
Garcia,
R.
A.,
and
Cohen,
G.,
Science, Vol.
158,
No.
3806, pp.
1265-1266 (1967).
24
page,
T.,
"Photographic
Sky
Coverage
for the Detection of
UFO's,"
Science,
160, June
14, 1968.
p.
1258.
22
"UFO
Project
:
Trouble
on
the Ground."
Science,
161, July 26. 1968,
pp. 339-342.
21
Baker,
R.
M.,
Jr.,
"Observational Evidence
of Anomalistic
Phenomena,"
J. Astronaut.
August
1967.
27
Baker,
R.
M.,
Jr.,
"Obeservational Evidence
of Anomalistic
Phenomena,"
J. Astronaut.
Sci.,
XV,
No.
1,
January—February 1968.
28
Morse,
R.
F.,
"UFO's and
the Technological
Community," American Engineer,
38:
5,
May
1968, pp. 24-28.
22
Fowler,
R.
E.,
"Engineer Involvement
in
UFO
Investigations,"
American Engineer,
38:
5.
May
1968, pp. 29-31.
30
Moller,
P.
S.,
"Engineering Professor Teaches
UFO
Course at the University of
Cali-
fornia,"
American Engineer,
May
1968, pp. 32-34.
81
"UFO
Study
Credibility
Cloud?"
Industrial Research, June 1968.

Cases discussed

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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.