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.
“Scientific American”26 pages
236 lieNZ NOINFINT AMP.) Va- g VP') Frank B. Salisbury • Utah State University A phenomenon is abroad in the land. Since shortly after the beginning of re- corded history, but particularly during the past two decades, many people have reported visual observations of phenomena which they interpret as ob- jects so intricate in their structure and proficient in their maneuvers that they far surpass the current human tech- nology. The apparent objects are usu- ally in the sky, but in a few cases they are on the ground or landing or taking off from the ground. Although they may not be flying and they may not be objects, they are called unidentified fly- ing objects: UFO's for short. What is the significance of these strange, typically aerial phenomena? There are many extremely important implications in the area of psychology. Perhaps the most obvious is the pos- sibility that the UFO's may be purely psychological phenomena such as hal- lucinations. Of much greater impor- tance, however, could be the psycho- logical questions of interpretation. These are valid regardless of what elicits the response in the witness — a real spaceship from Mars or a spot- light shining on a gossamer cloud. The number of witnesses to these phenomena has increased tremen- dously in recent years (probably a siz- able fraction of 1% of the world's là population has been involved in "good" sightings), therefore the phenomenon is of obvious sociological importance. It could influence the relationships be- tween nations or programs of space exploration. It might even, given the proper circumstances, develop into a panic of severe proportions. There is ample justification from the sociologi- cal standpoint for a detailed study of the UFO phenomenon. My interest developed from the field of exobiology. If the UFO's are extra- terrestrial spaceships guided by intelli- gent beings (as many of their witnesses insist), then they are of the most press- ing interest to the exobiologist. Cur- rent speculation about life on Mars (Jackson and Moore, 1965; Salisbury, 1962, 1966) would be naive indeed if such were the case. Although they would have virtually no significance to exobiology if they are not extraterres- trial, the possibility that they might be seems great enough to merit at least a preliminary investigation. We might well consider the UFO's from the standpoint of the philosophy of scientific method. Even if the sci- entific community at large were sin- cerely interested in the study of the phenomena, it would encounter many difficulties in knowing what approach to take. UFO sightings are events which usually cannot be repeated. The astronomer may also witness such events, e.g., the flares on Mars (Salis- bury, 1962; Ley„..-Wifis, and Ws.,abet— Von Braun, 1960), but at least he is a trained observer, and none of his col- leagues are likely to doubt his word. In the case of the UFO's, although many observers may be highly trained in certain aspects of contemporary modern life, few, if any, could claim much competence as carefully schooled UFO observers! Frequently, they are not trained to differentiate between observation and interpretation, and often there is a strong tendency for all but close friends to doubt their word. Here, then, is a phenomenon of nature which could, and should, be of extreme interest to the scientist. But it is a difficult one for even him to study. How do we study events which cannot be repeated and which are recorded only through the minds of observers who can scarcely resist the temptation to enlarge their stories and to inter- mingle the facts with their own inter- pretations and psychological responses? An artist's conception of the Boiani, New Guinea, June 26-27, 1969, sighting. Object is drawn from sketches made by the witnessss at the time. Note the other two objects hovering at a greater distance. Supplied by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (See above).
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.