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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. 7 …We approach the question of unidentified flying objects as purely a scientific problem, one of unanswered…
  • p. 9 …Civilian with U.S. Navy 1944. Scientific Societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science; Astronomy…
  • p. 10 4 subject as rank nonsense, the product of silly seasons, and a peculiarly American craze that…
  • p. 11 …Thus my scientific reticence was based on a carefully weighed decision. In attempting analysis of the…
  • p. 24 …American Association for Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Society, Sigma Xi, American Geophysical Union, Royal Meteorological…
  • p. 30 …witnesses, members of the staff of the American Newspaper Publishers Associa- tion, were the witnesses in…
  • p. 46 …Scientists will tend to be put off by some of his scientific commentary, as well as…
  • p. 47 …Information on some of these, as well as on smaller American groups, can be found in…
  • p. 76 …have been ignored as indicators of some scientifically intriguing problem demand- ing intensive study.2. Case…
  • p. 91 …UFOs—An International Scientific Problem, paper presented at a Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Canadian Aeronautics…
  • p. 118 …Navy, 1944-45.Scientific Societies: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancementof Science, Society of…
  • p. 131 …Phillips, American Scientist, v. 53, no. 1, p. 32). Fused silica fibers have been stressed to…
  • p. 132 …Baker's professional society memberships include the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, Phi…
  • p. 147 …REFERENCES (1) The "American Nautical Almanac" 1950. (2) H. 0. No. 214, "Tables of Computed Altitude…
  • p. 156 …00060 "Influence of Martian Ephemeris and Constants on Interplanetary Trajectories," Chapter in Exploration of Mars, American…
  • p. 202 …25 adult Americans has seen a UFO. Judging from the one detailed, official, scientific investigation that…
  • p. 204 …Originally operated jointly by Harvard and the University of Colorado, this scientific institution is now wholly…
  • p. 213 …a paper presented in a symposium sponsored by Division 21, Engineering Psychology, at the American Psychological…
  • p. 214 …As a member of the Parapsychological Association and the American So- ciety of Clinical Hypnosis, I…
  • p. 215 …1) The Scientific Attitude Survey ( Sprinkle, 1962) is not useful in assessing "scientific" attitudes, and/or…
  • p. 217 …Henderson is a member of Alpha Chi, the American Geophysical Union, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists…
  • p. 220 214 Professional affiliations include the American Physical Society, the American Nuclear Society, the American Institute of…
  • p. 223 …of the Astronautical Sciences'the American Engineer 2020 Industrial Research,' Scientific Research'8 Aviation Week and…
  • p. 225 …A., "UFO's Merit Scientific Study," Science, October 21, 1966, and Astro- nautic8 d Aeronautics, December…
  • p. 226 …of Baltimore Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Local sections of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics…
  • p. 251 …Scientific American, 200: 117-128.
.30
I
wondered,
Dr. McDonald,
if
you
would
care
to
evaluate
the
re-
search
project
at
the
University
of
Colorado,
and
comment
on
that?
Mr.
ROUSH.
Mr.
Ryan,
may
I
just
say
we
had
agreed
that
this
was
not
the
place
to
discuss
that
particular
project,
and
that
the
purpose
of
the
symposium
was
not
to
go
into
the
activities
of
another
branch
ofgovernment, but
rather to
explore
that
as
a
scientific
phenomena.
I'm
sure
that
Dr.
McDonald
would
be very
happy
to
confer
with
you
privately
on
this,
but
if
you
could
show some
restraint
here,
the
Chair
would
be
real
grateful to
you.
Mr.
RYAN.
Well,
let
me
rephrase
my
question.
In
view of
the
fact
that
there
has
been
a
study conducted
by
a
proj-ect
in
the
Air
Force,
and
the
University
of Colorado,
do
you
believe
there
is
anything
further
that
should be
done
by any
branch of
the
Government?
Dr.
MoDoNALD.
Emphatically,
yes.
Mr.
RYAN.
What
would you
recommend?
Dr.
MCDONALD.
I
think that
we
need
to
get
a
much
broader
basis
of
investigation
of
UFO's,
as
I
did say,
a
few moments
ago,
it
would
bevery
salutary
to
have
a group
in
NASA
looking at
this
problem,
and
to
have
some
NASA
support of
independent
studies.
It
would
be very
good
for the National
Science
Foundation
to support, say,
some
uni-
versity
people
interested
in
it.
It
would
be
good
to
have
the
Office
of
Naval
Research
et cetera
involved.
We
don't deal
with
many
other
important
problems,
space,
or
molec-
ular
biology
or
health
without
a
pluralistic
approach,
a
multiplicity
of
research
programs.
I
don't
want
to
touch
a
frayed nerve
here.
This
problem of
duplication
is
sometimes lamented.
But
by
and
large
I
think
you
will
agree
we
would
gain
from
having
a
lot
of
different
peo-ple
with
slightly different
points
of
view going
at
every problem.
At
the
moment
everything
is
focused
through one
agency,
and
every-
thing
now
hinges
on
that
one
particular
program you have
asked
me
about,
and
my
answer was,
we
very
definitely
need
some
independent
programs.
I am
on
record elsewhere
than
here in
my
specific
views
on
that
project.
Mr.
RYAN.
Looking
back
at
page
14,
you
wrote
a
letter
to the
Na-
tional
Academy
of
Sciences,
concerning
this project.
Have
you had
any
reaction
from
the National
Academy
of
Sciences?
Dr.
MCDONALD.
Yes,
I
received
a
leter
from Dr.
Seitz,
saying for
the time being
we
must
let
the Colorado
project
run
its
course.
That
was
the
gist
of
the answer.
Mr. RousH.
I
would
appreciate
it,
if
we
dispensed
with
that.
Let
me
say that the National Acadeiny
is
undertaking
an
evaluation
of
the
University
of Colorado
project,
and
this will
be
published.
Mr.
RYAN.
I'm
suggesting
maybe
this
committee should
make an
investigation
of the University of Colorado
project.
Chairman
MILLER.
That
is
something
we
don't
have
authority to
do
here.
Mr. RYAN. To
what
extent,
Dr. McDonald, have
sightings been
picked
up by
radar,
and what
extent of those that have been picked
upbeen explored?
Dr.
MCDONALD.
Well, there are
many
such sightings,
I
dare saythere are thousands of military radar sightings that were for the short

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.