UFO's - A Scientific Debate

348 Pages·1972·10.86 MB·English

by  Carl Sagan, Thornton Page (editors)

UFO^
A SCIENTIFIC DEBATE
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Edited by
Carl Sagan and
Thornton Page
"Sobering reading for both
enthusiasts and skeptics...
a well-balanced symposium."
— New Scientist
# PHILLIPS ACADEMY
* OLIVER-WENDEIX-HOLMES ^
^
LI B R ARY
^
'W W'
IN MEMORY OF
DAVID S.
P.A. 1964
I
UFO’s—
A SCIENTIFIC DEBATE

Carl Sagan is Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Laboratory
for Planetary Studies at Cornell University.
Thornton Page, Astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, is
now working at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.

UFO’S-
III
A SCIENTIFIC DEBATE
EDITED BY
CARL SAGAN and
THORNTON PAGE
®
The Norton Library
W*W* NORTON & COMPANY* INC • NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT © 1972 BY CORNELL UNIVERSITY
First published in the Norton Library 1974
by arrangement with Cornell University Press
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published simultaneously in Canada
by George J. McLeod Limited, Toronto
Books That Live
The Norton imprint on a book means that in the publisher’s
estimation it is a book not for a single season but for the years.
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title;
UFO’s—a scientific debate.
Reprint of the ed. published by Cornell University
Press, Ithaca, N.Y.
Papers presented at a symposium sponsored by the
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
held in Boston on Dec. 26—27, 1969-
Includes bibliographies.
1. Flying saucers—Congresses. 1. Sagan, Carl,
1934— ed. 11. Page, Thornton, ed.
III. American Association for the Advancement of
Science.
TL789.A1U23 1974 001.9'4 74-10560
ISBN 0-393-00739-1
Printed in the United States of America
6 7 8 9 0
U-v-v 3
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Contents
Contributors ix
Editors’ Introduction xi
Selected UFO Cases xxi
PART I I BACKGROUND
1 Education and the UFO Phenomenon Thornton Page 3
2 Historical Perspectives: Photos of
UFO’s William K. Hartmann 11
3 Astronomers’ Views on UFO’s Franklin Roach 23
PART II I OBSERVATIONS
4 Twenty-one Years of UFO Reports J. Allen Hynek 37
5 Science in Default: Twenty-two Years of
Inadequate UFO Investigations James E. McDonald 52
Appendix; Four Cases
1. South-Central U.S., July 17, 1957 56
2. Lakenheath and Bentwaters, England, August 13-14, 1956 70
3. Haneda AFB, Tokyo, Japan, August 5-6, 1952 90
4. Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, November 4, 1957 115
6 UFO’S—The Modern Myth Donald H. Menzel 123
Appendixes
1. The Papua Case, June, July, and August, 1959 146
2. Clearwater, Florida, July 4, 1964 153
3. The Spectacular UFO’s of March 3, 1968 155
4. The Phantom Plane, Colorado Springs, May 13,1967 161
5. Do Flying Saucers Move in Straight Lines? 163
6. UFO's in Art 174
7. Flying Saucers of the Bible 177
7 Unusual Radar Echoes Kenneth R. Hardy 183
8 Motion Pictures of UFO’s R. M. L. Baker, Jr. 190
vi I Contents
PART III I SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS
9 Sociological Perspectives on UFO Reports Robert L. Hall 213
10 Psychology and Epistemology of
UFO Interpretations Douglass R. Price-Williams 224
11 Psychiatry and UFO Reports
Lester Grinspoon and Alan D. Persky 233
12 On the Abilities and Limitations of Witnesses of
UFO’s and Similar Phenomena Frank D. Drake 247
13 Influence of the Press and
Other Mass Media Walter Sullivan 258
PART IV I RETROSPECTIVE AND PERSPECTIVE
14 UFO’s: The Extraterrestrial and
Other Hypotheses Carl Sagan 265
15 The Nature of Scientific Evidence:
A Summary Philip Morrison 276
ADDENDUM
Discussion Reported by the Editors 291
Index 303