Documents / Report
This is the final report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, conducted by the University of Colorado under Air Force contract F44620-67-C-0035, with Edward U. Condon as scientific director and Daniel S. Gillmor as editor. It was submitted to the National Academy of Sciences on 15 November 1968 for review. The report includes field studies, photographic and radar analyses, case studies, historical chapters and appendices such as the Robertson Panel report and the Twining letter.
That is to say, our principal task is to examine UFO photo- graphic evidence that is ullegeu to iudicate the existence of "flying saucers," and make a judgment as to whether the evidence supports this assertion. Photographic ~vidcnce is peculiarly open to the con- tention that one must establish what is shown, before one can say that it is not a "flying saucer," This argument is invalid, It is not necessary to prove that an object is an orange before establishing that it is not a mushroom. Exhaustive attempt~ to establish the identity of each object or image recorded were therefore not made. Yet possible interpretations were suggested in many cases where it I,as concluded (for one reason ,iT another) that there was no fwidence of an unusual phenomenon. 2. Selection of Cases Time and funds did not permit exhaustive investigation of all interesting cases. About 90% of the cases could be assigned Jecond or third priority upon inspection or brief study, Such a priority rating was based on a judgment that the case had little potential value in establishing the existence of "flying saucers ." The remaining 10% of the cases were of first priority and required intensive sttldy, some as much as a month of full-time effort, A "residual" of about 2% to 5% of all cases remained unelCplained after this process. It is such a residual that is the core of the UFO prohlcm (both in photographic cases and more generally), The O'Brien committee (see Appendix A) suggested that the proposed universit)' study of UFOs give emphasis to current reports. However, certain older, "classic" cases from the last two decades contain the most significant photographic evidence. Neglect of them would justifiably be open to criticism. Hence, the present photographic study includes both new cases and independent reevaluations of older ~Rses. 109 That is to say, our principal task is to examine UFO photo- graphic evidence that is nce of "flying saucers." The remaining 10% of the cases were of first priority and required intensive stt:dy, some as much as a month of full-Ume effort. A "residual" of about 2% to 5% of all cases remained une:<plained after this process. It is such a residual that is the core of the UFO prohlem (both in photographic cascs and more generally). The O'Brien committee (see Appendix A) suggested that the proposed university study of UFOs give emphasis to current reports. However, certain older, "classic" cases from the last two decades contain the most significant photographic evidence. Neglect of them would justifiably be open to criticism. Hence, the present photographic study includes both new cases Bnd independent reevaluations of older ~Rses. 109
Report, from the classic collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 1497 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.