Science and the UFO phenomenon:
In this section, I collect what science has to say about UFOs. Skeptics often claim that science demonstrated that UFOs
is a nonsensical problem. But actually, even if almost no real large scale scientific effort has been devoted to the
study of UFOs, scientists who indeed studied the phenomenon have a lot to say that may be disturbing to the UFO-skeptic.
The first known scientific study of the UFO phenomenon:
September 24, 1412 in Japan, General Yoritsume camps with his army. Suddenly, his sentinels
observe a curious phenomenon: mysterious sources of light go and come, whirl in the South-Western
sky, describing loops, and this continues until the morning. The General Yoritsume commands that
a serious scientific examination is conducted, and his collaborators put themselves at work.
They need only little time to draw up their conclusion: the phenomenon is totally natural. It
is only the wind which stirs up the stars.
(Source Yusuke J. Matsumura, Yokohama.)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
WHAT SOME DO NOT KNOW OR DO NOT LIKE TO TELL ABOUT THE CONDON REPORT:
- Dr. James E. McDonald rejects the conclusion and explains why.
- What did McDonald do after the publication of the Condon Report's conclusion? He spoke at the UN.
- Professor David Saunders, fired from Condon's group, explained what went wrong.
- Review by Robert M. L. Baker Jr., in Scientific Research, April 14, 1969.
- Review by Thornton Page, Ph.D., in American Journal of Physics, Vol. 37, No. 10, 1071-1072, October 1969.
- NICAP explains why the Condon Report conclusions should be rejected.
- What Condon was really doing and how it was inside there, by John G. Fuller, 1968.
- CIA does Condon's photographic analysis work but shhhhh, do not tell, it is supposed to be an independant analysis.
- US Air Force's UFO consultant with 25 years of experience on the question, astronomer J. Allen Hynek shows what is wrong with the Condon report, 1969.
- Why did she quit?.
- An historical perspective, by Michael Swords.
TO THIS DAY ONLY ONE SCIENTIFIC STUDY HAS BEEN PROPERLY CONDUCTED:
... and it is positive.
It might seem unbelievable but the ufo phenomenon has not been studied a lot
to this day: of course, a large number of private groups and non-profit organisations
investigate the subject, and military studies and statements exist.
But only once, a government asked a panel of scientist to study the phenomenon in order
to come to some conclusions, and gave at least some means toward that end.
It happened in France, the scientific group is the SEPRA (formerly GEPAN) and the scientific
conclusion is that there are now sufficient material evidences that some ufos are flying machines
driven by an intelligence and having flight characteristics that today's human technology
is far from reaching.
Of course, USAF has conducted several UFO Studies over the years, you will find them in the "Officials" section of this site
as they are not pure scientific work, rather military more or less secrets projects.
Of course there is the Condon Report. This report is hardly acceptable as scientific study, as it was funded by the
USAF and major scientists who participated in it resigned due to disagreement with the conclusions.
These conclusions, as opposed to the huge content of the report, tell nothing about the nature of UFOs,
and instead, recommend that scientific study of the UFO phenomenon should be discouraged.
SCIENTISTS WHO DO NOT LAUGH THE UFO PROBLEM AWAY:
- Carl Sagan in 1962.
- Carl Sagan in 1967.
- Bio-Science, volume 17, No. 1, 1967, pages 15-24, statement submitted by Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Utah State University, to the UFO congressional hearings in the US.
- The Incommensurability Problem and The Fermi Paradox by E. Davies, astrophysicist.
- Review of Hynek's The UFO Experience by J. Kuettner, AIAA UFO sub-committee.
- No Evidence for Extraterrestrial Life? by John B. Alexander.
- Are we all alone, or could they be in the asteroid belt?, by Michael D. Papagiannis.
- Extraterrestrial intelligence in the solar system: resolving the Fermi paradox, by Robert A. Freitas Jr.
SCIENTISTS WHO THINK THAT UFOS ARE REAL:
- In a paper published in 1968, six well-known scientists explain that the study of UFO is serious and demand that the UN, not the USAF, starts investigating.
- Aviation Safety in America: A Previously Neglected Factor by Richard Haines, Ph.D.
- Unusual Aerial Phenomena, by J. Allen Hynek, Journal of the Optical Society of America, April 1953.
- M. Chairman, UFOS are real states astronomer Alan Hynek, previously skeptic, at the United Nations.
- Cards on the table in 1981, "The UFO Phenomenon: Laugh, Laugh, Study, Study" by Alan Hynek.
- The respected astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek was totally skeptic about UFOs. USAF asks him to help them to show that UFOs are astronomical natural phenomenon. Hynek finds out they are not.
- 134th symposium of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the full text of the lecture by Dr. J. Allen Hynek.
- Presentation at the AIAA meeting, by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, 1975.
- Interview with J. Allen Hynek, in 'Nature', 1975.
- The emerging picture of the UFO problem, by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Presented at the AIAA 13th Aerospace Sciences Meeting Pasadena, California, January 20-22, 1975.
- James E. McDonald, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona: "Meteorological Factors in Unidentified Radar Returns," 14th Radar Meteorology Conference, American Meteorological Society, November 17-20, 1970.
- Twenty-Two Years of Inadequate UFO Investigations, lectured at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's 134th Meeting general symposium on the Unidentified Flying Objects by the physician James E. McDonald, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences.
- "AIAA Committee Looks at UFO Problem", AIAA UFO Subcommittee, Astronautics and Aeronautics, December 1968.
- William T. Powers, in "Physics Today", suddenly retrieves some common sense; discussion continued by Stanton Friedman.
- William T. Powers' idea covered by Joachim P. Kuettner in this AIAI 1975 paper.
- Bernard Haisch joins UFO research and asks for true skepticism to replace pseudoscientific debunking.
- Chris Rutkowski discusses NSF report about pseudoscience.
- Eltjo Haselhoff about crop circles and the evidence of the presence of small balls of light above them during their creation.
- UFOs, and historical perspective, 1967, by George W. Earley.
- Presentation at the House Committee on Science and Astronautics Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1968, by Dr. Robert L. Hall.
- Report, 1978, by Dr. Claude Poher, astronomer, rocket specialist and GEPAN first director.
SCIENTISTS WHOSE OPINION IS THAT SOME UFOS ARE EXTRATERRESTRIAL:
- Robert M. Wood, Doctor of Physics, 43 years at McDonell Douglas Corporation, "The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Is Not That Bad."
- William Bramley, "Can the UFO Extraterrestrial Hypothesis and Vallée Hypotheses Be Reconciled?"
- Pierre Guérin, astrophysician, "A Scientific Analysis of Four Photographs of a Flying Disk Near Lac Chauvet (France)."
- Carl Gustav Jung, the world famous Swiss psychologist, thinks that UFOs are real and extraterrestrial.
- Physician James McDonald studies the multiple radar visual case of Bentwaters, 1956, and establishes the evidence that UFOs are for real, and that the denial by the military and scientific community is a shame.
- Dr. James E. McDonald's speech at the UN.
- Presentation at the House Committee on Science and Astronautics Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1968, by Stanton T. Friedman.
- Statement at the House Committee on Science and Astronautics Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1968, by Dr. James McDonald.
- Presentation at the House Committee on Science and Astronautics Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1968, by Dr. James McDonald.
- Presentation at the House Committee on Science and Astronautics Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1968, by Dr. James A. Harder.
- Article by James E. McDonald for Astronautics and Aeronautics, August 1967, p. 19-20.
- UFOs - An International Scientific Problem, Paper Presented at the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute Astronautics Symposium, Montreal, Canada, March 12, 1968, James E. McDonald, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
- The Case for the Extraterrestrial Origin of Flying Saucers, 1995, by nuclear physicist and UFO researcher Stanton Friedman.
- The UFO Challenge, 1997 position paper by Stanton Friedman.
- Ufology in Canada, Stanton Friedman.
ANTI-GRAVITY:
UFOs' performances are considered by believers as the proof that they are not from Earthly origin. Skeptics
use the same data to say that ufos are impossible. Anti gravity propulsion systems might be used in ufos and
would grant them their "impossible performances". While skeptics explain that physics proved that anti-gravity
is mere nonsense, physicians at NASA and elsewhere are currently investigating anti-gravity
and respectable budgets are devoted to these studies.
FASTER THAN LIGHT TRAVEL:
Faster then light travel is not just a Star Trek fantasy anymore, it is a
subject of scientific theories and projects. Here is one example taken out of
formerly opened xxx.lanl.gov: Chris Van der Broek has an idea on how to lower the energy amount necessary
to transport objects faster than light in a time-space warping bubble.
Here is the full story.
See also Robert M. Wood, Doctor of Physics, 43 years at McDonell Douglas Corporation, "The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Is Not That Bad."
EXTRASOLAR PLANETS:
If there were other civilizations in the universe, there must be planets outside the solar system that they would inhabit.
Given the size of the universe and the huge distances between stars, if extrasolar planets are rare, the chances that
intelligent beings from these planets find us are low.
What science can now answer is simple: there are planets outside the solar system, they are obviously very common,
there are all sorts of planets around all sorts of star types, even around pulsars for example.
You can have a look at the current catalog of extrasolar planets.
Here is a summary on the current extrasolar planet search
technologies and projects, their goals and results and the techniques planned to be
used for search of life on extrasolar planets.
Here is a summary on extrasolar planets already discovered up to year 1999.
INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE DISTANT UNIVERSE:
SOCIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND SOFT SCIENCES:
- Presentation at the House Committee on Science and Astronautics Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1968, by Dr. Robert L. Hall, Associate Professor of Sociology and Psychology (1965-66) and Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Sociology (since 1966), University of Illinois at Chicago Circle.
- Carl Gustav Jung, the world famous Swiss psychologist, on UFOs as real and extraterrestrial.
- Sociologist looks at ufology, Pierre Lagrange, sociologist.
- David M. Jacobs, historian, reviews a book by Dr. Richard Haines.
- On Pseudo Skepticism, by Marcello Truzzi, professor of sociology, founder member of CSICOP.
- The scientific context of UFO abductions, by Don C. Donderi, Associate Professor of Psychology at McGill University of Montreal, Canada.
- Clinical discrepancies between expected and observed data in patients reporting UFO abductions: implicaions for treatment, by Rima E. Laibow, M.D.
- Extrinsic factors in UFO-reporting, by David Saunders, PhD.
NONLINEAR SCIENCE:
Latest breakthrough physics news.
One sees in science a logical chronological succession of new discoveries and technological progresses.
This is completely erroneous, here is one stunning example of this mistake: would you believe that one
scientist invented the alternate current, the alternate current electric motor, the radio, the Xray photography,
the radio controlled missile, the power generator, the transmission of electricity through the air,
the interplanetary communication, and had plans for a wireless internet, atomic energy power sources and over 800
more inventions, all of this starting in 1888, and would you know his name?
WILD SPECULATIONS:
Here are some Star Trek style news and speculations. I just couldn't help.