For UFO Study? - The Black Vault

AND. COMMENT
unlikely to end, despite the Colorado ' (~*\
. .
report's massive documentation (it is L
1485 pages long) and its undoubted X .
contributions to an understanding of
T TT?/TI Ow. J • /r~* Jt /r* • Tn« •» TS.T the UFO problem. Q _
UFO Study: Condon Group Finds No ,
One Of the greatest contributions of ;£r
f ^r* *JL e *-^ A -r^ 'the study was to demonstrate that -^
Of VlSltS frOni Ollter SpaCe
much of the seemingly "hard" evidence S
of UFO's is not very hard at all, and
... . that even the most experienced and re-
. . sponsible observers can be fooled by
The final report* of the first exten- were employed on small aspects of the what they see. This was well illustrated
sive study of unidentified flying objects • problem. Investigators made field trips in a UFO scare that swept over Van-
(UFO's) was made public last week, to interview witnesses of alleged UFO denberg , Air Force Base and various
and it contained bad news for flying- sightings ("By all odds the most used Pacific Missile Range tracking installasaucer
fans. The study, which was con- piece of physical equipment was the tions in the fall of 1967. It all started _./
ducted by the University of Colorado tape recorder," Condon notes). They one night when a missile-range official j *
under Air Force sponsorship, found also conducted historical research, re- spotted an object in the sky over the
no convincing evidence that UFO's are viewed the UFO literature, arranged -• ocean. He called another official 3 miles
spacecraft from'another world. It also several ingenious laboratory tests, and away, who confirmed the sighting and
recommended' against further large- called. in experts on radar, optics, me- who, in turn, called a third officer, who
scale studies of UFO's. teorology, and perception to help ex- also confirmed the sighting. The object .
"Our general conclusion is that plain puzzling sightings. seemed to have colored lights, and
:
nothing has come from the study of The extensive investigation was com- seemed to be stationary, or perhaps
UFOs in the past 21 years that has missioned by the Air Force in the spinning. Tracking and search radars
added to scientific knowledge," states hope that a study by independent sci- from Vandenberg and three other in-
Edward U. Condon, the project's cmi- entists would quiet the persistent con- ' stallations were asked to look for the •
nent scientific director. "Further ex- troversy over UFO's, but no sooner ' object, and immediately reported dozens
tensive study of UFOs probably can- had Condon's report been issued than of unidentified targets, some stationary,
not be justified in the expectation that it was under attack. The National In-" some moving at speeds up to 80 knots.
science will be advanced thereby." vestigations Committee on Aerial Phe- Then additional objects were spotted
The Study's findings and recommcn- nomena (NICAP), an organization of visually— one appearing to move in
dations, as well as its scope and mcth- UFO buffs, staged oppress conference in such an alarming way that an observer
odology, were unequivocally endorsed Washington, D.C., and. produced two yelled "Duck!" In the heat of the mo- .
by a special review panelt set up by scientists who vigorously criticized the ment, three flights of fighter planes
the National Academy of Sciences, adequacy of the study and the validity were sent to investigate the situation,
"We are unanimous in the opinion that of the conclusions drawn from it. One but none of the pilots saw anything.
this has been a very creditable effort to . of the scientists was David R. Saunders, Fortunately, the incident produced
apply objectively the relevant tech-, a psychologist formerly associated with an unusual amount of hard instrument
niques of science to the solution of the : the project, who has co-authored a data, more numbers than any other
UFO problem," the panel asserted, paperback book, released last week to case in the Colorado files. The infor-
"On the basis of present knowledge coincide With issuance of the Condon, mation included radar-generated data
the least likely explanation of. UFOs report, entitled t/FOs? FES.' Where describing the behavior of the targets, .':,.
is the hypothesis of 'extraterrestrial vis- the Condon Committee Went Wrong, as well as data on weather conditions
itations by intelligent beings." The other was James E. McDonald, an and tape recordings of conversations
The Colorado study is unquestion- atmospheric physicist from the Univer- between the pilots and their bases.
ably the most thorough and sophisti- sity of Arizona, who believes the most Working with this windfall, specialists
! cated investigation of the nebulous likely explanation of some UFO's is from the Stanford Research Institute
1 . UFO phenomenon ever conducted. It that they are of extraterrestrial origin. (SRI) and other facilities were able to
ji: commenced in October 1966 and con- (For an account of previous battles be- identify most of the radar targets "be-
\ tinued for about 2 years, at a cost in tween these men and Condon, see yond serious doubt," and they were
excess of $500,000. The project in- Science, 26 July 1968.) able to make a plausible explanation of
volved a total of 37 staff members, The two scientists and other parfici- the visual sightings. .
some from the University of Colorado, pants in the press conference charged The experts concluded that an unsome
from other universities or from that Condon was biased against the ex- usually strong temperature inversion
government and private laboratories, traterrestrial hypothesis, that the Colo- provided favorable conditions for both
plus numerous other specialists who rado group failed to investigate the visual and radar mirage effects; that
-:-'•- "vast majority" of significant UFO the stationary targets, including
A '£*%&*%tiFu^ifini^o£
j, win be published shortly by Bantam Books;
sightings, and that the report's conclu- visual observation that touched off the
sions are not borne out by the evidence • whole incident, were probably mirages
$l 'tThe panel, chaired by Gerald M. ciemcnce, in the body of the document. McDonof
Yale University, former scientific director of ^ a] so claimed that the Academy
of ships beyond the horizon; that the
faster radar targets were almost cercrane,'David
a M. Dcnn'ron? Wallace "ex Fcnn. n! panel was "not adequately prepared tainly birds, which radar operators had
Keffer Hartline E R Hilgard, Mark Kac, Fran- tQ asscss» th e Colorado report.
v
not had Occasion to look for before;
cis W. Reichelderfer, \Villiam W. Rubcy, C. D.
• , , , .
Shane, and Oswald o. vniard, Jr. Thus the UFO. controversy seems and that other radar targets were
2«o . . 'SCIENCE, VOL.. 163'