Observatory Head Repudiates Saucers

To the Editors of The CRIMSON:

In the CRIMSON for Tuesday, Nov. 10, John Laval, writing under the heading Flying Saucers, states that a recently published report "proves, beyond all reasonable doubt, that UFO'S (Unidentified Flying Objects) are unknown superior machines under intelligent control, emanating from an extra-terrestrial source."

I, too, have seen this report. It is a confused, biased account, put together by a group of sincere believers in the reality of flying saucers from outer space. This group, the National Investigative Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), has tried for years, unsuccessfully, to get Congress to investigate the U.S. Air Force. The object of the hearings would be to have the Air Force publicly admit what they supposedly have known all along, that these "weird machines" really exist and that the military has suppressed this information because the public is not prepared for so staggering a revelation.

Here are the facts. Many reliable persons, notably military and commercial pilots, have reported seeing "objects" moving at fantastic speeds, avoiding all attempts to intercept them. The Air Force files at Wright Field bulge with such reports. No one questions the integrity of the persons who have made such sightings. But I do question the conclusion that many have drawn from the reports, that the "objects" are extra-terrestrial, manned machines.

I have spent some time studying these phenomena. I have written two books on the subject, the first, Flying Saucers, was published by the Harvard University Press in 1953. The second, The World of Flying Saucers, with Lyle Boyd as co-author and published by Doubleday, came out just last year.

At the invitation of the U.S. Air Forces, Mrs. Boyd and I spent several days at Wright Field, studying the files and examining all of the evidence. We were given the "secret" files, containing material classified, not because of the saucers, but because certain reports are related to national defense, such as experimental rockets or planes.

We concluded that the evidence does not even remotely support the NICAP contention, that UFO'S are of extraterrestrial origin. The reports are simply explained as reflections from material objects such as balloons, planes, satellites or birds. Meteorological optics, such as mirages and sundogs account for many other sightings. Bright meteors, stars or planets are also responsible. Under special conditions, as studies clearly demonstrate, the observed "objects" can appear to move at fantastic speeds and display an ability to elude attempts of the observer to intercept it. Radar sightings are fully as subject to such vagaries as the optical sightings. There are also many hoaxes to confuse the issue further.

The true "believers" simply refuse to accept the scientific evidence. They pursue their faith in extra-terrestrial saucers with almost religious fervor. It would indeed be unfortunate if the pressures brought by NICAP and others should cause our Congressional representatives to waste their time in such a series of hearings.

I repeat my own conclusions, with which the Air Force concurs. There is no evidence whatever to support the idea that UFO'S are manned extra-terrestrial vehicles. In fact the term UFO is itself a misnomer. The sightings are no longer "Unidentified." They are not always "Flying." And many of them, like mirages or sundogs, are not even "Objects." Donald H. Menzel   Director of Harvard   College Observatory