Post by uforn on Aug 3, 2011 10:36:39 GMT 1
UFO History 1968: Scientists call for laughter to stop over UFOs
On July 30, 1968, a newspaper headline read: “Scientists Warn: Stop Laughing About UFOs“. news.google.com/newspapers?id=6nQ0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=XCQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6932,1951463&dq=stop+laughing+at+ufos&hl=en
That United Press International headline, published 43 years ago, referenced the statements made by a group of six scientists. The scientists gathered for the Hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress on July 29, 1968. www.project1947.com/shg/symposium/index.html
Those scientists were:
•Dr. J. Allen Hynek, head of the Department of Astronomy, Northwestern University
•Dr. James E. McDonald, senior physicist, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, the University of Arizona
•Dr. Carl Sagan, Department of Astronomy and Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University
•Dr. Robert L. Hall, head of the Department of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago;
•Dr. James A. Harder, associate professor of civil engineering, University of California at Berkeley, and;
•Dr. Robert M. L. Baker, Jr., Computer Sciences Corp. and Department of Engineering, UCLA
The scientists all presented their cases regarding the UFO phenomena. They did not all agree with the hypothesis that UFOs were extraterrestrial craft. They did agree, however, that it was time to stop laughing at UFOs and to start long-term government backed programs to understand the phenomena.
The University of Arizona’s Dr. James E. McDonald, in particular, gained much attention in the press over various statements he made at the symposium. He argued that UFOs represented “an intriguing, pressing and unsolved mystery which had not been adequately studied by science.” During the Symposium in Washington, D.C., McDonald had already grown tired various UFO explanations. He argued that the balloon hypothesis was “strained beyond the breaking point.”
Additionally, McDonald stated that there was “a puzzling and slightly disturbing coincidence” between the 1965 Northeast blackout and a rash of UFO sightings. McDonald believed in the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
Dr. Carl Sagan, however did not. Sagan’s presentation included the statement: “The interest in unidentified flying objects derives, perhaps, not so much from scientific curiosity as from unfulfilled religious needs. Flying saucers serve, for some, to replace the gods that science has deposed. With their distant and exotic worlds and their pseudoscientific overlay, the contact accounts are acceptable to many people who reject the older religious frameworks. But precisely because people desire so intensely that unidentified flying objects be of benign, intelligent, and extraterrestrial origin, honesty requires that, in evaluating the observations, we accept only the most rigorous logic and the most convincing evidence. At the present time, there is no evidence that unambiguously connects the various flying saucer sightings and contact tales with extraterrestrial intelligence.”
Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s presentation included the statement: “As scientists, we may honestly wish to see whether there is any scientific paydirt in this international UFO phenomenon. But to discover this paydirt we must devote serious study to UFO’s. To make serious study possible, however, requires recruiting competent scientists, engineers, and technical people, as well as psychologists and sociologists.”
Full statements, letters and documents related to the symposium can be viewed here. www.project1947.com/shg/symposium/index.html Why, though, did the press focus so intently on McDonald’s statements?
Forty-three years later, the UFO phenomena still draws laughter from most members of the media.
Leslie Kean, who has never seen a UFO, spent 10 years researching UFO incidents through the trained eye of an investigative journalist. Kean is the author of New York Times bestseller: UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record. Her book, released one year ago, was a result of ten years of in-depth research into the UFO phenomenon. Kean’s book will be released in paperback tomorrow. She will also discuss UFO encounters on Coast to Coast AM tomorrow night.
Billy Cox, who writes for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune isn’t laughing at UFOs either. He maintains a blog called: Devoid: The Mainstream Media’s Lonely UFO Web Log. devoid.blogs.heraldtribune.com/
Funny thing is that respectable and credible people are coming forward to openly discuss UFOs. Another person who has come forward, who has also never seen a UFO, is Bryce Zabel. Zabel is a former journalist, who started his career at KVOA in Tucson.
Zabel was elected and served for two years as the chairman/CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 2001. Many will recall that Zabel rescheduled the Emmy Award show twice after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Zabel left office in 2003 due to his eventful tenure in office “feeling like two”.
Last year, his book AD: After Disclosure, co-authored with researcher Richard Dolan, looked at what life would be like if the government ever disclosed the “secrets” about UFOs they are said to be hiding. View our discussion from last year with Zabel on the Tucson Citizen. tucsoncitizen.com/paranormal/2010/11/22/ufo-disclosure-when-the-cat-is-out-of-the-bag-then-what/
Three trained journalists who aren’t laughing: Kean, Cox and Zabel.
Perhaps we have made a little progress in the last 43 years, after all.
Tucson Connection: Aside from Dr. James E. McDonald’s work at the University of Arizona, did you know that Dr. J. Allen Hynek moved to Tucson from Chicago in 1984 for open-mindedness and tolerance? Read about this on the Tucson Citizen. tucsoncitizen.com/paranormal/2010/12/16/ufo-researcher-came-to-tucson-for-open-mindedness-and-tolerance/
Source:
paranormaloldpueblo.com/2011/08/02/ufo-history-1968-scientists-call-for-laughter-to-stop-over-ufos/