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.

Open the PDF at page 228 Original source ↗

“Nevers”43 pages

  • p. 12 …in a peasant society whose eyes were never turned toward the skies. Can we afford not…
  • p. 13 …for a proper and definitive study will never develop. I recall an encounter I had sometime…
  • p. 16 …A very character- istic statement by those making the reports is: "I have never seen anything…
  • p. 18 …They also usually request anonymity which is always granted. (4) UFO's are never seen at…
  • p. 19 …Other misconceptions are that UFO's are never reported by scien- tifically trained people, are never…
  • p. 20 …it has never been considered worthwhile to improve the data -gathering process because the whole subject…
  • p. 27 …he is looking at something he has never seen before. I like Dr. Hynek's phrase…
  • p. 37 …at the Ontario Hydro Commission plant has never been identified, but initially thetentative suspicion was centered…
  • p. 39 …cover- ing innumerable intriguing cases I had never before heard of, and (above all) after the…
  • p. 43 …diminish in sig- nificance, though they can never be overlooked. A frequent objection to serious consideration…
  • p. 45 …out- of-the-way rural areas but never over large cities? Why don't large groups…
  • p. 48 …Smith emphasized that they were never certain of sizes and distances, but that they had the…
  • p. 53 …is deceased), I believe that there has never been any dispute as to the observed facts…
  • p. 59 …Many other sources could be cited to show that the intimation that UFOs are never seen…
  • p. 65 …After the 'official "explanation" was publicized, he decided he'd never report another one. I predict…
  • p. 68 …In the ensuing two decades, he has never again seen anything like it. Clearly, the probability…
  • p. 69 …Moore never got a sufficiently clear view to identify any finer details if any were present…
  • p. 75 …the past twenty years, cases that ought never have been so labelled, had the evaluators kept…
  • p. 76 …Ground radar stations never detected the unknown that was seen visually and contacted by airborne radar…
  • p. 77 …strong, bright pips, said that "anomalous propagation never entered our heads as an explanation." Howard S…
  • p. 78 …7) but could never close with the unknown as its continued on its north- bound course…
  • p. 80 …All three said they had never before seen anything like it. Munger decided to phone his…
  • p. 81 …The photos were shortly taken by Base military authorities and were never seen again by the…
  • p. 87 …referred to repeatedly in Menzel's writings, never with any quantitative discussion of precisely what he…
  • p. 100 …visual observations of classical UFO's have never been made by profes- sional astronomers. For example…
  • p. 101 …how the promised political or social intervention never materializes. Psychological Factors. The psychologist Carl Jung pointed…
  • p. 125 …Oh, heavens, I never suggested that, I hope. Mr. BOONE. Well, let me say, science fiction…
  • p. 159 …He has not ever been exposed to any toxic substances, has never had to take any…
  • p. 168 …He said he had never had the experience of deja-vu episodes or of performing acts…
  • p. 171 …It never occurred to him to call anyone else's attention to the light (probably because…
  • p. 172 …He had never seen anything like it before and in fact had never previously had the…
  • p. 173 …He has taken only two sick days in the entire five years and is never late…
  • p. 174 …He never has fantasied actively taking his own life, however, and feels it would be very…
  • p. 175 …He never was one to participate in extracurricular activities, but always maintained a part-time job…
  • p. 176 …Prior to seeing that light, he apparently never experienced a deja vu, or any illusory or…
  • p. 194 …If the observer being studied is truly sociopathic and has never de- veloped a super -ego…
  • p. 203 197 This data, which most people have never seen or even heard of, is published in…
  • p. 206 …They never have had enough sCientists in the project. They have failed to follow up certain…
  • p. 221 …Isn't it true that UFOs have never been sighted on radar? No, it is not…
  • p. 243 …make such an all- inclusive negative statement. Never- theless, many of the arguments are highly compelling…
  • p. 244 …A balloon reported as a UFO was never out of sight of its launchers. A perplexing…
  • p. 247 …al- though he apologizes because he has never had the time to make a thorough search…
  • p. 249 …two leads appeared, but other witnesses could never be located), but his ap- parent sincerity was…
222
plasmas.' The development of lightweight, compact, high-field superconducting
magnets has also led to much work on the potential benefits to be derived from
placing a magnet within a high-speed vehicle to interact with a plasma around
the vehicle. Such a combination might be used to reduce vehicle heating, control
aerodynamic drag, exert control forces on the vehicle, provide power for its
operation, open a "magnetic" communications window, and change the vehicle
radar profile. In addition, the magnets might be used to provide shielding against
space radiation. Numerous reports cover such applications.13-17
A review of this literature and an extrapolation of exsiting technology suggest
that with considerable effort an entirely new EM approach to hypersonic flight
might be developed which, in many respects, could duplicate UFO characteristics.
In turn, this leads to the notion that observed UFO behavior is not so unreason-
able as might at first appear to be the case. The measurement of EM parameters
of UFOs could well provide information on both UFO characteristics and new
propulsion.
FOOTNOTES
(Items 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13 available from UFO Research Institute, Suite 311, 508
Grant St., Pittsgurgh, Pa. 15219.)
1. Spencer, D. F. and Jaffe, L. D., "Feasibility of Interstellar Travel," Acta
Astronautica, Vol. IX. Fasc. 2, 50-58, 1963.
2. "The UFO Evidence," National Investigations Committee on Aerial
Phenomena,1964.
3. Olsen, T., "The Reference for Outstanding UFO Sighting Reports," Oct.
1966, $5.95.
4. "Project Blue Book: Special Report No. 14," Davidson, 3rd Edition, 1966,
$4.00.
5. "Humanoids—Worldwide Survey of Landings and Alleged Occupants," Spe-
cial Issue of Flying Saucer Review, October-November,1966. $2.00.
6. McDonald, James E., "UFOs: Greatest Scientific Problem of Our Times,"
Oct. 1967. $1.00.
7. Hynek, J. Allen, "UFOs Merit Scientific Study," Science, Oct. 21, 1966,
and Astronautics & Aeronautic, Dec. 1966, p.4.
8. Vallee, Jacques, "Anatomy of a Phenomenon," Regnery, 1965, $4.95. Ace
Books,1966,$.60.
9. Vallee, Jacques and Janine, "Challenge to Science—The UFO Enigma."
Regnery, 1966, $5.95. Also paper, $.75.
10. Michel, A., "The Truth About Flying Saucers," Criterion, 1956. $3.95.
11. Michel A., "Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery," Criterion,
1958. $4.50.
12. Ruppelt, E. J., "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects," Doubleday,
1956. $2.95.
13. Maney, Prof. C. A., and Hall, Richard, "The Challenge of Unidentified
Flying Objects," 1961. $3.50.
14. Literature Search No. 541, "Interactions of Spacecraft and Other Moving
Bodies with Natural Plasmas," Dec. 1965, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 182 pages,
829 references.
15. Jarvinen, P. 0., "On the Use of Magnetohydrodynamics During High
Speed Reentry," NASA-CR-206, April 1965.
16. Nowak, R., et al, "Magnetoaerodynamic Re-entry," AIAA Paper 66-161,
AIAA Plasmadynamics Conference, March 2-4, 1966.
17. Kawashima, Nobuki and Mori, Sigeru, "Experimental Study of Forces on
a Body in a Magnetized Plasma," AIAA Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, Jan. 1968, pp.
110-113.
S. T. Friedman Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory
(Ed.—For additional comments on UFOs see the following AIA references:
The Wheel in the Middle of the Air, Solomon Golomb, Sounding Board, Au-
gust 1966, p. 16. . . Letters, Nov. 1966, p. 6, George Earley and Brent L. Marsh
on Saucer Doctrine ... UFOs—Extraterrestrial Probes? by James E. McDonald,
Sounding Board, Aug. 1967, p. 9... Munday Jr., John C., "On the UFOs," Bul-
letin of the Atomic Scientists, Dec. 1967.
Also see December 8, 1967, issue of Science, No. 3806, pp. 1265 and 1266, Let-
ters to Ed.)

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.