UFOs - Leslie Kean [153]
Sturrock is perhaps one of the most eminent scientists ever to apply the conventional scientific method to the UFO phenomenon. He has received awards from the American Astronomical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Cambridge University, the Gravity Foundation, and the National Academy of Sciences. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics noted his “major contribution to the fields of geophysics, solar physics and astrophysics, leadership in the space science community, and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge.” He has published five edited volumes, three monographs, three hundred articles and reports, and a 2009 memoir.4
In 1997, Sturrock initiated and directed the first major scientific inquiry into the UFO phenomenon since the Condon study, in order to see what a new group of scientists would conclude about UFOs. A four-day conference was convened in upstate New York to rigorously review physical evidence associated with UFO reports. Seven investigators—including Jean-Jacques Velasco and Dr. Richard Haines—presented well-researched cases with photographic evidence, ground traces and injuries to vegetation, analysis of debris from UFOs, radar evidence, interference with automobile functioning and aircraft equipment, apparent gravitational or inertial effects, and physiological effects on witnesses. The review panel of nine scientists from diverse fields—most were “decidedly skeptical agnostics” who did not have prior involvement with UFOs, according to Sturrock—reviewed the presentations and provided a sober, carefully worded summary. Although they were unable to conclude anything specific in such a short time, the panel recommended continued careful evaluation of UFO reports. It recognized that the Condon study was out of date, and that whenever there are unexplained phenomena, of course they should be investigated. And yes, the further investigation and study of UFO data could contribute to the resolution of the UFO problem. Those remarks were a significant advance on the position of the scientific establishment.5
Still, this review didn’t change much. Scientists continue to face obstacles, Sturrock notes, such as: a lack of funding for research, a false assumption that there is no data or evidence, the perception that the topic is “not respectable,” and the a priori rejection of research papers by journals. One impediment is that instead of looking at the data and taking steps to acquire more, many scientists have tended to interpret the issue theoretically and then give a theoretical reason for dismissing it. For example, Astronomer Frank Drake stated in 1998 that if UFO reports are real, they must be due to extraterrestrial spacecraft. However, interstellar travel is impossible, therefore the reports must be discounted. This argument boils down to the familiar skeptical assertion that it cannot happen, therefore it does not happen. “In normal scientific research, observational evidence takes precedence over theory,” Sturrock points out. “If it does happen, it can happen.”6
In January 2010, the prestigious Royal Society of London convened a two-day conference on “the detection of extraterrestrial life and the consequences for science and society.” Physicists, chemists, biologists, astronomers, anthropologists, and theologians came together—along with representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency, and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs—to discuss the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence. But one issue was not part of the mix: the still unexplained UFO phenomenon. Once again, it was as if the whole mass of evidence simply doesn’t exist. And I am quite sure that if any presenters were open or curious, perhaps even informed, about the subject, they would never risk saying so among such esteemed colleagues at a high-profile forum. But the fact that this meeting took place at all, and received international media coverage, illustrates