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Ufology is the study of Unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings, and other related phenomena.
While many ufologists strive for legitimacy, and some are respected scientists in other fields, ufology has never been fully embraced by the scientific community, for a number of reasons. One cannot obtain a ufology degree from any college or university, though there have been a few college or university courses on the subject, often from a folklore persepctive. Many ufologists are amateurs (or worse, individuals in search of fame and fortune), and however well intentioned, are often unfamiliar with generally accepted research standards, thus often rendering their own research useless even to sympathetic mainstream experts. Many amateur ufologists have been criticised for accepting as true stories or tales without demanding supporting evidence or conducting even cursory research.
Some ufologists consider the general attitude of mainstream academics as arrogant and dismissive, or bound to a rigid World view that disallows any evidence contrary to previously held notions, despite the fact that the history of science is replete with discarded notions. Astronomer and ufologist J. Allen Hynek's famous comment regarding this subject is, "Ridicule is not part of the scientific method and people should not be taught that it is." Another comment by Hynek regarding the frequent dismissal of UFO reports by astronomers was, "Close questioning revealed they knew nothing of the actual sightings... and therefore cannot be taken seriously. This is characteristic of scientists in general when speaking about subjects which are not in their own immediate field of concern."
Ufologists embrace a wide spectrum of approaches, beliefs, and attitudes, from those regarded by some as quacks (e.g. David Icke); to respected mainstream scientists like Peter A. Sturrock, James E. McDonald, or Auguste Meessen, some of whom argue that UFO reports are as worthy of study as any topic, and deserve case-by-case analysis using the scientific method. Study of UFO sightings this way has yielded very interesting and important results, such as in weather phenomena (see Hessdalen) and in human perception, such as the study lead by the SOBEPS for the Belgian flap in 1989-'90 or the interesting studies of the GEPAN/SEPRA in France.
Astrophysicist Peter A. Sturrock suggests that a lack of funding is a major factor in the institutional disinterest in UFO’s: "If the Air Force were to make available, say, $50 million per year for ten years for UFO research, it is quite likely that the subject would look somewhat less disreputable ... however, an agency is unlikely to initiate such a program at any level until scientists are supportive of such an initiative. We see that there is a chicken-and-egg program. It would be more sensible, and more acceptable to the scientific community, if research began at a low level." (Sturrock, 155)
Sturrock suggests that UFO studies be compartmentalized — as are most scientific endeavors — into at least "the following distinct activities:
- Field investigations leading to case documentation and the measurement or retrieval of physical evidence;
- Laboratory analysis of physical evidence;
- The systematic compelation of date (descriptive and physical) to look for patters and so extact signifigant facts;
- The analysis of compilations of data (descriptive and physical) to look for patterns and so extract signifigant facts;
- The development of theories and the evaluation of those theories on the basis of facts.” (Sturrock, 163)
For more on applications of science to UFO phenomena, see "Science and UFOs" in Unidentified Flying Objects. Despite involvement of some respected scientists in investigating UFOs, most critics still consider ufology at worst a pseudoscience, or at best a protoscience.
For a list of major UFO sightings and related reports, see List of major UFO sightings.
Broadly, there are these schools of thought to explain UFO sightings:
The extraterrestrial hypothesis
This is a theory that some UFO sightings are alien spacecraft. See Extraterrestrial hypothesis.
The interdimensional hypothesis
"Interdimensional" has two meanings here. See Interdimensional hypothesis.
The natural explanation hypothesis
This is a theory that some UFO sightings are misunderstood natural phenomena such as ball lightning. See Psychosocial Hypothesis and UFO#Identified Flying Objects (IFOs). See the next paragraph for reasons for such misunderstandings.
The psychopathological hypothesis
This is a theory that some UFO sightings are hallucinations and are caused by the same mechanism as various occult, paranormal, supernatural. or religious experiences (compare alleged sightings of the Blessed Virgin Mary). The hallucination may be a distortion of a real object. (For example, a cow's white face reflected in a pond at night was once misinterpreted as a ghost of a drowned baby.) Reasons for these wrong perceptions include:-
- Attempt to explain natural phenomena which have no natural explanation known in that time and area.
- Hallucinations caused by mental illness.
- Hallucinations in former centuries caused by food shortage forcing people to eat mouldy food, where the mould fungus had made hallucinogenic chemicals.
- Hallucinations caused by non-alcoholic delirium tremens caused by chronic magnesium deficiency.
- Hallucinations caused by the brain being affected by electric effects caused by ball lightning.
- Dreams confused with reality.
- Following the area's general local belief.
- Delirium caused by heat and dehydration.
- False or implanted memory
- Inevitably, some UFO reports likely to be hoaxes or lies.
The route followed by these misperceptions can be influenced by the environment that the perceiver was brought up in as a child: fairy stories, or one or other religion, or science fiction, or whatever: for example, one perceiver may see fairies where another sees Greys.
The advanced human aircraft hypothesis
This is a theory that all or some UFO sightings are advanced, secret or experimental aircraft of earthly origin.
- During the 1980s, there were reports of "black triangle" UFOs. Some of these were the secret F-117 Nighthawk, which became known to the public in November 1988. And see black triangles.
- Nazi Germany is known to have experimented with circular jet planes using the Coanda effect. At least one of the scientists involved was taken to the USA after WWII. Experiments with these designs and their descendants down the years may explain many sightings of circular UFO's. See Military flying saucers
There is a theory that the secret groups developing these aircraft in the USA, have been encouraging ufology to follow the "alien spacecraft" line of thought, to cover up for sightings.
Groups Involved with Ufology
- United States Air Force Project Blue Book: Small, public Air Force UFO investigation, from 1952 until discontinued in 1969. Preceded by Project Sign (1947-1948) and Project Grudge (1948-1952).
- Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) (1952-1988): Early, national U.S. civilian research organization with many PhD consulting scientists.
- National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)(1956-1980, Early, national U.S. civilian research organization, very large and powerful at one time, with many scientists and military consultants.
- Mutual UFO Network (MUFON): Large, international, U.S. based civilian research organization stressing field investigations and data collection.
- Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS): Founded by Project Blue Book consultant, astronomer and ufologist J. Allen Hynek; stresses scientific investigations; large archives, including old NICAP files.
- Fund for UFO Research: Funds scientific UFO research; many consulting PhD scientists; does photoanalysis.
- National Institute of Discovery Science (NIDS): Private, somewhat clandestine organization with insider government scientists and military people stressing scientific forensic analysis of UFO and paranormal phenomena.
- Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, (CSICOP), a UFO and paranormal skeptics organization, which classifies ufology as a pseudoscience and claims all UFO reports are ultimately explainable as mundane phenomena or hoaxes.
- UFO Norge, a Norwegian project dedicated to collect all material on observations and physical traces of UFO activity in Norway.
- Centro Ufologico Nazionale (CUN), big Italian private centre directed by sociologist Dr. Roberto Pinotti, funded in Florence.
- Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici (CISU), big Italian private centre directed by Dr. Edoardo Russo, originated by a branch of CUN, funded in Torino.
- Erich von Däniken's unconvincing theories (along with Peter Kolosimo), where he tries to combine what he considers historical proof of extraterrestrial visits with a theory on extraterrestrial help in the evolution of humanity.
UFO Researchers
Sources
- Peter A. Sturrock; The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence; Warner Books, 1999; ISBN 0446525650
External links
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