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.
encountered in this study. While the existence of a few mentally U:1-
balanced pc ro;ons :11J1011g Ul:0 obserVCTc is part of the tOLl I 5 i tuat ion, it
is completel)' incorrect and unfair to imply that all who report UFUs
are "crazy kooks," j ust a~ it is equally incorrect tC' ignore the fact
that there are mentally disturbed persons among them.
Individuals differ greatly as to their tendency to make reports.
Among the reasons for not reporting UFOs aTe apathy, lC'ck of awareness
of public int~'rest, fear of ri\licule, lack of knowledge as to where to
report and the time ;Ind cost of making a report.
1\(' founo that reports ;11'(' [lot useful unle~,s they are made {lromptly.
Evcn so, because of the short dur:ltion of l1l0st U!;1 stim'J.ll, the report
~b,-nll)' can not be made unti i aftcr the uro hus dL:tppeared. II few
I'(',Jple telephoned to us frol11 great di.stances to describe something seen
a Y(':ll' or two 'Carli.er. Such n'IH)l'-~S arc of little value.
j'lJ'1)' in thc.' stwly \,(' tried to C'stilJ\;!te the fracUon of all of the
sightings th;tt eIre reported. In social cOJ)vn we wou:c1
~tsk \~hether they had made ;l report and in IllOSt cases would be tuld that
the' h:id n\)t. As rt rough guess hased on thi s uncont rolled sample, we
cstimat{' that perhap:::.1.J'L of the sightings that people ar(' \~i lling to
L111\ a)'out later arC' nIl t)l;lt g(~t reported at the time. This point was
late]' ('(1\.(' cd ill:1 Jl1or~' f\11'11;11 j1uIJlic attitudl~ survey (Section lIT,
Ch'.lj'tl>r ~) Inadc 1'01' t his .' l tidy ill wh i ell onl \' n, of those who said they
1' • .1 seen al1 liFO had J'(,})()[,tt"l it pn·vi ,usl)', Thus if nIl people rcpurtE'd
~:~ht:l1f:S th:lt ;Ire like those th:ll";ulllc Jl{'ople Jo report, the nUlliber of
H'llurt~ thdt.(l1uld he 1'C'\,'I'ivl'd \~o\ild h(~ :It I('a:,t t(,11 times ~J.reater than
the ll1.ll'lhC'r :1\,'lU;ill:-' l'(\"civc'd,
.. \t first I,e th()ligllt il \I'ould Iw de i,.ll":' to ulldcrt;jkc an rJxtCIlSIVl:
plll'ljcit~· (;;llIpaigll to tl'V to ~;l't mIHI' (,dl"l'lct r ' I'('porting from tho publIC,
I t has d~'\" i dl~J not to ,10 tIl i ~" hC('ilUS\,' ahout 90 1
:, of ;\] 1 IIFU reports
1S
C'm:ountel"('d in thj~ study, While the existence of a few mentally \.:;1-
balanced persons ;llIIcn" UFO observer, js paTt of the tot,d si tUiltion, it
is completely incorrect and unfair to imply thc,t cuI who report: UHJs
are "C1'. few
]'C"')]1 1€' t cl ephoneu to us fnll1l great dl stances t () dosed be someth i ng seen
:1 \'(':11' or two ~arlicr. Such n']"))",.!, are of Ii ttlc value,
j'lrl: in tlw stw\y 'l'l'au::v ;Ih()ut 90':, or :Ii) liFO rl'port!i
J S 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.