UFOs
- Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects - This 1465-page report is often referred to as the "Condon Report", after its scientific director, the late Edward U. Condon. It is reproduced here in full, with the permission of the University of Colorado, which conducted the study with financing from the U.S. Air Force. It remains the largest (and arguably the only) truly scientific examination of the UFO issue ever conducted. Upon receipt of this report in 1968, the Air Force promptly terminated its UFO-related investigative activity, the 20-year-old "Project Blue Book." Acknowledgments
- Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects - These proceedings, conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Astronautics in 1968, represent the most serious political effort ever undertaken to persuade the U.S. Government to regard the UFO issue as a serious scientific problem and to mount a major long-term UFO study program. The major proponent of this view, atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald, testified at length. His view, shared by others who testified, did not prevail. Acknowledgments Parts of this document are not yet searchable by Google.
- Politics and Paradigm-Shifting - This 1976 Ph.D. dissertation in political science, by Paul E. McCarthy, University of Hawaii chronicles the activities of Dr. James E. McDonald, his associates and his opponents, in a number of UFO-related controversies between 1966 and 1970. The high point of the narrative is the 1968 congressional symposium listed above. Acknowledgments
Energy
- Cold Fusion Research - This 1989 report by the Energy Research Advisory Board (ERAB) of the U.S. Department of Energy report of the ) was produced in response to a controversial claim that nuclear fusion had been achieved with simple electrochemical equipment and methods. The report concluded that the evidence to support the claim was unconvincing, and recommended that no special funding for research programs on cold fusion be established. Acknowledgments
- Report of Tests on Joseph Newman's Device - This 1986 report by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) provides the results of tests it conducted of Newman's device at the request of the Patent & Trademark Office (PTO), in the course of legal proceedings resulting from the refusal of the PTO to issue a patent to Mr. Newman. The NBS report also provides a detailed description of the apparatus and methods used in testing the device. Newman's claim for his invention, that it operates at efficiencies greater than 100%, was contradicted by those test results. Acknowledgments
- Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism - Seybert Commission, University of Pennsylvania, 1887: This unusual scientific enterprise was produced in response to a bequest to the University by Henry Seybert, a wealthy Philadelphia philanthropist and convert to spiritualism. The terms of the bequest required that the University perform a careful scientific study of the claims of the movement. The commission found that essentially all spiritualist claims investigated were both fraudulent and surprisingly amateurish. Acknowledgments
