Conclusions Not DisclosedNew Controversy Stirred Special to the New York Times - Wednesday, May 1, 1968
By EVERT CLARK
WASHINGTON, April 30 - Field investigations of
"flying saucer" reports by University of Colorado
scientists were completed on schedule today, Dr. Edward U.
Condon, head of the project, said today.
A final report of the scientists' findings will be given to the
National Academy of Sciences late in September.
Dr. Condon, a physicist and a former head of the National Bureau of
Standards, said he would not discuss any conclusions the researchers
might have reached, but there has been a general impression that the
U.F.O. riddle remains unsolved.
Dr. Condon's statement came amid a controversy between himself and
Look magazine over an article it printed calling the project the
"flying saucer fiasco." The completion of the field investigations and
the controversy were not related, the physicist said.
The university undertook a $500,000 study of Unidentified Flying
Objects (U.F.O.'s) late in 1966 at the request of the Air Force, whose
critics accused it of failing to make a comprehensive, scientific
investigation of saucer reports from the public over two decades.
On the House floor today, representative J. Edward Roush, Democrat of
Indiana, using phrases from the Look article, said Congress should
take over the investigation from the Air Force. He contended that
grave doubts had arisen "as to the scientific profundity and
objectivity of the Colorado project."
In a related development, a nongovernmental organization, the National
Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, held a news conference
here to announce that it has "broken with" the Colorado
project and claiming to "reveal the firing of top project
scientists and other incidents leading to the project's
failure."
Many of the group's members take seriously the possibility that flying
saucers are of extraterrestrial origin.
The Look article, written by John G. Fuller, concerns
primarily the oustings of David R. Saunders, a psychologist, and
Dr. Norman E. Levine, an electrical engineer, from the project
last February.
Dr. Condon said in a telephone interview today that he had sent a
telegram on Sunday to Gardner Cowles, editorial chairman of
Look, saying the article contained "falsehoods and
misrepresentations." The
telegram requests a meeting with Mr. Cowles "in the
interest of responsibility and truth in publishing."
Dr. Condon said Mr. Cowles had designated a Look editor
to talk to him. Dr. Condon said he did not consider the response
adequate and said he still hoped to talk to Mr Cowles.
The physicist also said the NICAP announcement of a "break" with the
Colorado project "comes at a peculiar time in that this is the very
day on which we discontinued further field investigations leading
toward the conclusion of our study."
NICAP headquarters here has been expressing strong skepticism about
the project for months in its newsletter to members. But it is
understood that a number of its members around the country had
continued to cooperate with the Colorado scientists.
At the time that the two project scientists were dismissed in
February, they refused to discuss the matter with reporters. Dr.
Condon also refused, except to say that the dismissals were
"for cause."
The Look article, in the May 14
issue, indicates that the two ousted men and others on the staff
had taken a negative attitude toward the possibility that flying
saucers existed and were attempting to end up with a report
containing such a "negative" conclusion.
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