Science and the UFO phenomenon:

STATEMENT ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS:

This statement has been submitted by James E. McDonald, Senior Physicist, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, and professor, Department of Meteorology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics at July 29, 1968, Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Rayburn Bldg., Washington, D.C.

I have created a table of content underneath, which is not part of the original scientific publication. The 56 pages publication is some 250Kb and I have broken it in several files for acceptable web access speed.

Please go to the Science section of this site for more scientific papers by James E. McDonald and other scientists, and comments and information regarding scientists work and position about the UFO phenomenon.

TABLE OF CONTENT:

Introduction
Scope and background of present comments
The unconventional nature of the UFO problem
Some alternative hypothesis
Some remarks on interviewing experience and types of UFO cases encountered
Why don't pilots see UFOs?
Why are UFOs only seen by lone individuals, with no multiple-witness sightings?
Why aren't UFOs ever seen in cities? Why just in out-of-the-way places?
Why don't astronomers ever see UFOs?
Meteorologists and weather observers look at the skies frequently. Why don't they see UFOs?
Don't weather balloons and research balloons account for many UFOs?
Why aren't UFOs ever tracked by radar?
Why aren't there numerous photos of UFOs if they really exist?
If UFOs are real, shouldn't they produce some real physical effects?
Is there any evidence of hazard or hostility in the UFO phenomena?
Misapplications of atmospheric physics in past UFO explanations
Summary and recommendation (This page)
References (This page)

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

In summary, I wish to emphasize that my own study of the UFO problem has convinced me that we must rapidly escalate serious scientific attention to this extraordinarily intriguing puzzle.
I believe that the scientific community has been seriously misinformed for twenty years about the potential importance of UFOs. I do not wish here to elaborate on my own interpretation of the history behind that long period of misinformation; I only wish to urge the Committee on Science and Astronautics to take whatever steps are within their power to alter this situation without further delay.
The present Symposium is an excellent step in the latter direction. I strongly urge your Committee that further efforts in the same direction be made in the near future. I believe that extensive hearings before your Committee, as well as before other Congressional committees having concern with this problem, are needed.
The possibility that the Earth might be under surveillance by some high civilization in command of a technology far beyond ours must not be overlooked in weighing the UFO problem. I am one of those who lean strongly towards the extraterrestrial hypothesis. I arrived at that point by a process of elimination of other alternative hypotheses, not by arguments based on what I would call "irrefutable proof." I am convinced that the recurrent observations by reliable citizens here and abroad over the past twenty years cannot be brushed aside as nonsense, but rather need to be taken extremely seriously as evidence that some phenomenon is going on which we simply do not understand. Although there is no current basis for concluding that hostility and grave hazard lie behind the UFO phenomenology, we cannot be entirely sure of that. For all of these reasons, greatly expanded scientific and public attention to the UFO problem is urgently needed.
The proposal that serious attention be given to the hypothesis of an extraterrestrial origin of UFOs raises many intriguing questions, only a few of which can be discussed meaningfully. A very standard question of skepticism is "Why no contact?" Here, the best answer is merely a cautionary remark that one would certainly be unjustified in extrapolating all human motives and reasons to any other intelligent civilization. It is conceivable that an avoidance of premature contact would be one of the characteristic features of surveillance of a less advanced civilization; other conceivable rationales can be suggested. All are speculative, however; what is urgently needed is a far more vigorous scientific investigation of the full spectrum of UFO phenomena, and the House Committee on Science and Astronautics could perform a very significant service by taking steps aimed in that direction.
REFERENCES:

1. NICAP Special Bulletin, May 1960: Admiral Hillenkoeter was a NICAP Advisory Board member at the time of making the quoted statement.

2. McDonald, J.E., 1967: Unidentified Flying Objects: Greatest Scientific Problem of our Times, published by UFO Research Institute, Suite 311, 508 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15219.

3. Keyhoe, D.E., 1950: Flying Saucers Are Real, Fawcett Publications New York, 175 pp.

4. Keyhoe, D.E., 1953: Flying Saucers From Outer Space, New York, Henry Holt G Co., 276 pp. Keyhoe, D.E., 1955: Flying Saucer Conspiracy, New York, Henry Holt & Co., 315 pp. Keyhoe,D.E., 196O: Flying Saucers Top Secret, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 283 pp.

5. Ruppelt, E.J., 1956: The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., 243 pp. (Paperback edition, Ace Books, 319 pp.)

6. Project Grudge, 1949: Unidentified Flying Objects, Report No. 102 AC 49/15-100, Project XS-304, released August, 1949. I am indebted to Dr. Leon Davidson for making available to me his copy of this declassified report.

7. NICAP, 1968: USAF Projects Grudge and Bluebook Reports 1-12 (1951-1953), declassification date 9 September, 1960. Published by NICAP as a special report, 235 pp.

8. Bloecher, T., 1967: Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, available through NICAP.

9. Cruttwell, N.E.G., 1960: Flying Saucers Over Papua, A Report on Papuan Unidentified Flying Objects, 45 pp., reproduced for limited distribution; parts of this report have been reproduced in a number of issues of the APRO Bulletin.

10. Hall, R.H., 1964: The UFO Evidence, Washington, D. C. , NICAP, 184 pp.

11. Olsen, P.M., 1966: The Reference for Outstanding UFO Sighting Reports, Riderwood, Maryland, UFO Information Retrieval Center, Inc., P.0. Box 57.

12. Fuller, J.G., 1966: Incident at Exeter, New York, G.P. Putnam' Sons, 251 pp. (Berkeley Medallion paperback, 221 pp.)

13. Lorenzen, C.E., 1966: Flying Saucers, New York, Signet Books, 278 pp. Lorenzen, C.E., and L.J., 1967: Flying Saucer Occupants, New York, Signet Books, 215 pp. Lorenzen, C.E., and L.J., 1968: UFOs Over the Americas, New York, Signet Books, 254 pp.

14. Michel, A., 1958: Flying Saucer and the Straight Line Mystery, New York, Criterion Books, 285 pp. Michel, A., 1967: The Truth About Flying Saucers, New York Pyramid Books, 270 pp. (Paperback edition of an original 1966 book.)

15. Stanway, R.H., and A.R. Pace, 1968: Flying Saucers, Stoke-on Trent, England, Newchapel Observatory, 85 pp.

16. Vallee, J., 1965: Anatomy of a Phenomenon, Chicago, Henry Regnery Co., 210 pp. (Paperback edition, Ace Books, 255 pp.)

17. Vallee, J., and J. Vallee, 1966: Challenge to Science, Chicago, Henry Regnery Co., 268 pp. (Also in paperback)

18. Lore, G.I.R., Jr., and H.H. Denault, Jr., 1968: Mysteries of the Skies, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall Inc., 237 pp.

19. Fort, C., 1941: The Books of Charles Fort, New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1125 pp.

20. Stanton, L.J., 1966: Flying Saucers Hoax or Reality?, New York, Belmont Books, 157 pp.

21. Young, M., 1967; USOs Top Secret, New York, Simon & Schuster, 150 pp.

22. Time Magazine, July 14, 1947, p. 18.

23. Fuller, C., 1950: The Flying Saucers - Fact or Fiction?, Flying Magazine, July 1950, p. 17.

24. Menzel, D. H., 1953: Flying Saucers, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 319 pp.

25. Menzel, D.H., and L.G. Boyd, 1963: The World of Flying Saucers, Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., 302 pp.

26. Shalett, S., 1949: What You Can Believe About Flying Saucers, Saturday Evening Post, April 30, 1949, and May 7, 1949.

27. CSI Newsletter, No. 11, February 29, 1956 (Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York).

28. Flying, June 1951, p. 23.

29. Davidson, L., 1966; Flying Saucers: An Analysis of the Air Force Project Bluebook Special Report No. 14, Ramsey, New Jersey, Ramsey-Wallace Corp.

30. American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1967; Problems of Journalism, Proceedings of the 1967 Convention of the ASNE, April 20-22, 1967, Washington, D.C., 296 pp.

31. Keyhoe, D.E., 1950: Flight 117 and the Flying Saucer, True Magazine, August 1950, p. 24.

32. Salt Lake Tribune, Tuesday, October 3, 1961, p. 1.

33. UFO Investigator, Vol. 3, No. 11, Jan-Feb 1967.

34. LANS, 1960: Report on an Unidentified Flying Object Over Hollywood, California, Feb. 5, 1960 and Feb. 6, 1960, Los Angeles NICAP Sub- committee, 21 pp., mimeo.

35. UFO Investigator, Vol. 1, No. 12, April 1961.

36. McDonald, J.E., 1968: UFOs - An International Scientific Problem, paper presented at a Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, Montreal, Canada, March 12, 1968.

37. Darrach, H.B., Jr., and Robert Ginna, 1952: "Have We Visitors from Space?", Life Magazine, April 7, p. 80 ff.

38. Zigel, F., 1968: "Unidentified Flying Objects," Soviet Life, February, 1968, No. 2 (137), pp. 27-29.

39. Klass, Philip J., 1968: UFOs - Identified, New York, Random House, 290 pp.

40. International News Service, datelined Sept. 12, 1951, Dover, Del.

41. New York Times, June 2, 1954; New York World Telegram, June 1, 1954; New York Post, June 1, 1954; New York Daily News, June 2, 1954.

42. Official file on October 15, 1948 Fukuoka case, Project Bluebook.

43. Melbourne (Australia) Sun, December 16, 1954; Melbourne Herald, December 16, 1954; Auckland Star, December 16, 1954.

44. Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1957; New York Journal-American, May 10, 1957.

45. APRO Bulletin, May-June, 1965, p. 1-4.

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This page was last updated on January 19, 2002