Stanton T. Friedman
Encyclopedia
Stanton Terry Friedman is a professional Ufologist
, currently residing in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell incident. He studied physics at the University of Chicago
and worked as a nuclear physicist on research and development
projects for several large companies. He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.
and the University of Chicago
, earning a Bachelor of Science
in 1955 and a Master of Science
degree in nuclear physics
in 1956.
Friedman was employed for 14 years as a nuclear physicist for such companies as General Electric
, General Motors, Westinghouse
, TRW Systems
, Aerojet General Nucleonics
, and McDonnell Douglas
, where he worked on advanced, classified programs on nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets, and compact nuclear power plants for space applications. Since the 1980s, he has done related consultant work in the radon
-detection industry. Friedman's professional affiliations have included the American Nuclear Society
, the American Physical Society
, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
, and AFTRA.
Friedman has consistently favoured use of the term "flying saucer" in his work, saying "Flying saucers are, by definition, unidentified flying objects, but very few unidentified flying objects are flying saucers. I am interested in the latter, not the former." Friedman used to refer to himself as "The Flying Saucer Physicist
", because of his degrees in nuclear physics and work on nuclear projects.
, and supports the hypothesis that it was a genuine crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. In 1968 Friedman told a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that the evidence suggests that Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled extraterrestrial vehicles. Friedman also stated he believed that UFO sightings were consistent with magnetohydrodynamic propulsion.
In 1996, after researching and fact checking the Majestic 12
documents, Friedman said that there was no substantive grounds for dismissing their authenticity.
In 2004, on George Noory
's "Coast to Coast" radio show, Friedman debated Seth Shostak
, the SETI Institute
's Senior Astronomer. Like Friedman, Shostak also believes in the existence of intelligent life other than humans; however, unlike Friedman, he doesn't believe such life is currently on Earth or is related to UFO sightings.
Friedman has hypothesized that UFOs may originate from relatively nearby sun-like stars. In a book published in 2008, he said:
A piece of evidence that he often cites with respect to this hypothesis is the 1964 star-map drawn by alleged alien abductee Betty Hill
during a hypnosis session, which she said was shown to her during her abduction. Astronomer
Marjorie Fish constructed a 3-dimensional map of nearby sun-like stars and claimed a good match from the perspective of Zeta Reticuli, about 39 light years distant. The fit of the Hill/Fish star maps was hotly debated in the December 1974 edition of Astronomy Magazine, with Friedman and others defending the statistical validity of the match.
In addition, Friedman maintains that although arguments against these conclusions sound plausible, "when one examines them, they collapse, because of an absence of evidence to support them, and the presence of evidence that contradicts them". (p. 30) Friedman argues that reproducibility
is largely irrelevant to the study of UFOs, essentially because by definition, scientists do not control variables if UFO phenomena involve intelligent extraterrestrial control; that is, in this case, the study of UFOs does not involve experiment and experimental methods. This position can be criticized on the basis that experiments can be conducted on materials or technology that are hypothesized to have an extraterrestrial origin. Although Friedman maintains that such materials have on at least one occasion been obtained, as stated above, he maintains these are highly classified and not available for conventional or mainstream scientific study.
Friedman has characterized the kinds of evidence, scientific and otherwise, that he considers to be relevant, which include credible testimony, analyses of documents, video and physical trace evidence, and particularly multiple sources of mutually corroborating evidence of one or more kind. Regarding testimony, he states that "we must remember that the reason most sightings can be determined to be relatively conventional phenomena, often seen under unusual circumstances, is that most people are relatively good observers. The problem comes with the interpretation of what was observed ... it would be irrational to say that people are good observers when their input allows us to identify the object being observed, and yet poor observers if we can't identify the UFO as something conventional" (pp. 32–33). In response to criticism on the basis of psychological or other grounds, he refers to the quality evaluation reported in the Project Blue Book
Special Report No. 14 and other evidence, such as that contained in the COMETA
report.
research. Friedman contests the implicit premise of SETI that there has been no extraterrestrial visitation of the planet, because SETI is seeking only signals, not extraterrestrial intelligence or beings. He maintains that the prominence and widespread public claims of those involved with SETI has tended to prevent serious research, including research by journalists, of UFOs.(p. 129)
Friedman has criticized Carl Sagan
, a proponent of SETI, for ignoring empirical evidence, such as "600-plus UNKNOWNS" of Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14. Friedman argued that this empirical data directly contradicts Sagan's claim in Other Worlds that the "reliable cases are uninteresting and the interesting cases are unreliable". Specifically, Friedman refers to a table in Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 that he says "shows that the better the quality of the sighting, the more likely it was to be an 'unknown', and the less likely it was to be listed as 'insufficient information'" (p. 42).
Friedman has argued that the majority of people believe UFOs exist and at least some groups of scientists do as well. Friedman (2008) refers to the following data in support of his position:
on CNN.
Friedman has been criticized both by skeptics and other Roswell researchers for taking the position that there are no substantive grounds for dismissing the authenticity of some Majestic 12 documents. Friedman himself was the first to provide evidence that some of the documents are clearly hoaxes. For example, he showed that a supposed memo from Admiral Hillenkoetter to President Truman, dated February 17, 1948, was actually the emulation of a letter from Marshall to Roosevelt that featured in the book The American MAGIC. Friedman has researched the MJ-12 documents since first becoming aware of them from Wiliam Moore and Jaime Shandera in 1984. He addressed criticisms of the original documents in both sources. As an example, Philip J. Klass
claimed lexicographic inconsistencies based on the use of Pica typeface in the Cutler-Twining memo and offered $100, in a challenge to Friedman, for each legitimate example of the use of the same style and size Pica type as used in the memo. Friedman provided 14 examples and was paid $1000 by Klass.(reproduced on p. 262)
Ufology
Ufology is a neologism coined to describe the collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of unidentified flying objects . UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years by governments, independent groups, and scientists...
, currently residing in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell incident. He studied physics at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and worked as a nuclear physicist on research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
projects for several large companies. He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.
Career in nuclear physics
Friedman graduated from Linden High SchoolLinden High School (New Jersey)
Linden High School is a comprehensive community public high school located in Linden in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Linden Public Schools...
and the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, earning a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in 1955 and a Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degree in nuclear physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
in 1956.
Friedman was employed for 14 years as a nuclear physicist for such companies as General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
, General Motors, Westinghouse
Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems
' was created by Northrop Grumman's acquisition of Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group in 1996. The Electronic Systems sector is a leading designer, developer, and manufacturer of a wide variety of advanced defense electronics and systems. The division has 120 locations worldwide, including 72...
, TRW Systems
TRW
TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, automotive, and credit reporting. It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software and systems engineering. TRW built many spacecraft,...
, Aerojet General Nucleonics
Aerojet
Aerojet is an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange, Gainesville and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet is owned by GenCorp. They are the only US propulsion company that provides both solid rocket...
, and McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
, where he worked on advanced, classified programs on nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets, and compact nuclear power plants for space applications. Since the 1980s, he has done related consultant work in the radon
Radon
Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days...
-detection industry. Friedman's professional affiliations have included the American Nuclear Society
American Nuclear Society
The American Nuclear Society is an international, not-for-profit 501 scientific and educational organization with a membership of approximately 11,000 scientists, engineers, educators, students, and other associate members. Approximately 900 members live outside the United States in 40 countries....
, the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
, and AFTRA.
UFO investigations and advocacy
In 1970 Friedman left full-time employment as a physicist to pursue the scientific investigation of UFOs. Since then, he has given lectures at more than 600 colleges and to more than 100 professional groups in 50 states, nine provinces, and 16 foreign countries. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant on the topic. He has published more than 80 UFO-related papers and has appeared on many radio and television programs. He has also provided written testimony to Congressional hearings and appeared twice at the United Nations.Friedman has consistently favoured use of the term "flying saucer" in his work, saying "Flying saucers are, by definition, unidentified flying objects, but very few unidentified flying objects are flying saucers. I am interested in the latter, not the former." Friedman used to refer to himself as "The Flying Saucer Physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
", because of his degrees in nuclear physics and work on nuclear projects.
Friedman's positions regarding UFO phenomena
Friedman was the first civilian to document the site of the Roswell UFO incidentRoswell UFO incident
The Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
, and supports the hypothesis that it was a genuine crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. In 1968 Friedman told a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that the evidence suggests that Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled extraterrestrial vehicles. Friedman also stated he believed that UFO sightings were consistent with magnetohydrodynamic propulsion.
In 1996, after researching and fact checking the Majestic 12
Majestic 12
Majestic 12 is the alleged code name of a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, supposedly formed in 1947 by an executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman...
documents, Friedman said that there was no substantive grounds for dismissing their authenticity.
In 2004, on George Noory
George Noory
George Ralph Noory is a Lebanese-American radio talk show host.As of 2010, he is the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show Coast to Coast AM. He is heard across the United States and Canada on many AM and FM stations as well as on XM Satellite Radio. His show is one of the most listened...
's "Coast to Coast" radio show, Friedman debated Seth Shostak
Seth Shostak
Seth Shostak is an American astronomer. He grew up in Arlington, VA and earned his physics degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D...
, the SETI Institute
SETI Institute
The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe”. SETI stands for the "search for extraterrestrial intelligence". One program is the use of both radio and optical telescopes to search...
's Senior Astronomer. Like Friedman, Shostak also believes in the existence of intelligent life other than humans; however, unlike Friedman, he doesn't believe such life is currently on Earth or is related to UFO sightings.
Friedman has hypothesized that UFOs may originate from relatively nearby sun-like stars. In a book published in 2008, he said:
...[there] are about 1,000 stars within our local galactic neighborhood, meaning the region within 54 light years of Earth ... According to an excellent study done by Terence DickinsonTerence DickinsonTerence Dickinson, CM is a leading amateur astronomer and science writer who lives near the rural town of Yarker, Ontario, Canada. He is the editor of SkyNews magazine and an astronomy commentator for Discovery Channel Canada. He has written fourteen books, which are widely regarded as some of...
... 46 of those stars are very similar to our sun .... the star pair Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli, in the southern sky constellation Reticulum (the Net) only 39 light years away from us, are sun-like stars about 35 times closer to each other than the sun is to our nearest stellar neighbor. They are also about 1 billion years older than the sun. A civilization that had a billion-year head start on us will certainly know things that we can't even dream of. Our own limited science has shown that nuclear fusion rockets can provide thrust far in excess of that provided by chemical rocket, and so interestellar travel may be as easy for other civilizations now as nonstop flight across the ocean is for us today". (p.217)
A piece of evidence that he often cites with respect to this hypothesis is the 1964 star-map drawn by alleged alien abductee Betty Hill
Betty and Barney Hill abduction
Betty and Barney Hill were an American couple who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of New Hampshire on September 19–20, 1961....
during a hypnosis session, which she said was shown to her during her abduction. Astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
Marjorie Fish constructed a 3-dimensional map of nearby sun-like stars and claimed a good match from the perspective of Zeta Reticuli, about 39 light years distant. The fit of the Hill/Fish star maps was hotly debated in the December 1974 edition of Astronomy Magazine, with Friedman and others defending the statistical validity of the match.
Major conclusions and arguments
Friedman states that he has reached major conclusions on the basis of his research dating back to the late 1950s. These can be summarised as follows:- There is overwhelming evidence that planet Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled extraterrestrial spacecraft; that is, "some" UFOs are ET spacecraft, though most are not.
- A few people in the U.S. and other governments have known the above since at least 1947 and employ a "need-to-know" policy regarding this knowledge; that is, the knowledge is highly classified largely as sensitive military information.
In addition, Friedman maintains that although arguments against these conclusions sound plausible, "when one examines them, they collapse, because of an absence of evidence to support them, and the presence of evidence that contradicts them". (p. 30) Friedman argues that reproducibility
Reproducibility
Reproducibility is the ability of an experiment or study to be accurately reproduced, or replicated, by someone else working independently...
is largely irrelevant to the study of UFOs, essentially because by definition, scientists do not control variables if UFO phenomena involve intelligent extraterrestrial control; that is, in this case, the study of UFOs does not involve experiment and experimental methods. This position can be criticized on the basis that experiments can be conducted on materials or technology that are hypothesized to have an extraterrestrial origin. Although Friedman maintains that such materials have on at least one occasion been obtained, as stated above, he maintains these are highly classified and not available for conventional or mainstream scientific study.
Friedman has characterized the kinds of evidence, scientific and otherwise, that he considers to be relevant, which include credible testimony, analyses of documents, video and physical trace evidence, and particularly multiple sources of mutually corroborating evidence of one or more kind. Regarding testimony, he states that "we must remember that the reason most sightings can be determined to be relatively conventional phenomena, often seen under unusual circumstances, is that most people are relatively good observers. The problem comes with the interpretation of what was observed ... it would be irrational to say that people are good observers when their input allows us to identify the object being observed, and yet poor observers if we can't identify the UFO as something conventional" (pp. 32–33). In response to criticism on the basis of psychological or other grounds, he refers to the quality evaluation reported in the Project Blue Book
Project Blue Book
Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified flying objects conducted by the United States Air Force. Started in 1952, it was the second revival of such a study...
Special Report No. 14 and other evidence, such as that contained in the COMETA
COMETA
COMETA was a high-level French UFO study organisation from the late 1990s, composed of high-ranking officers and officials, some having held command posts in the armed forces and aerospace industry...
report.
SETI
Friedman has stated strong views against SETISETI
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the collective name for a number of activities people undertake to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Some of the most well known projects are run by the SETI Institute. SETI projects use scientific methods to search for intelligent life...
research. Friedman contests the implicit premise of SETI that there has been no extraterrestrial visitation of the planet, because SETI is seeking only signals, not extraterrestrial intelligence or beings. He maintains that the prominence and widespread public claims of those involved with SETI has tended to prevent serious research, including research by journalists, of UFOs.(p. 129)
Friedman has criticized Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
, a proponent of SETI, for ignoring empirical evidence, such as "600-plus UNKNOWNS" of Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14. Friedman argued that this empirical data directly contradicts Sagan's claim in Other Worlds that the "reliable cases are uninteresting and the interesting cases are unreliable". Specifically, Friedman refers to a table in Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 that he says "shows that the better the quality of the sighting, the more likely it was to be an 'unknown', and the less likely it was to be listed as 'insufficient information'" (p. 42).
Public and scientific opinion
Friedman says of the response to his talks, "I know that most people are unfamiliar with the several large-scale scientific studies ... because I ask, after I show a slide and ask about each one, "how many here have read this?" Typically it is only 1 or 2 percent." He says that a talk he gave to Canadian journalists in Saint John, New Brunswick caused the attitudes of the journalists to change because "Attendees had had no idea there was so much solid information, as opposed to the tabloid nonsense they thought was the primary source of UFO data." (p. 202)Friedman has argued that the majority of people believe UFOs exist and at least some groups of scientists do as well. Friedman (2008) refers to the following data in support of his position:
- Gallup Polls between 1966 and 1987 asked respondents the question: "Are UFOs something real, or just people's imagination?". Of those who took a position one way or the other, 61%, 64%, 68% and 60% took the position they are real in 1966, 1977, 1978 and 1987 respectively.
- With respect to scientists, a poll was taken by Industrial Research and Development in 1971 and 1979. Of the respondents who took a position, 64% and 69% stated they believed UFOs either probably or definitely exist. Of this subgroup, 32% and 44% considered their origin to be Outer Space in 1971 and 1979 respectively. Of the rest of this subgroup, approximately half believed them to be Natural Phenomena and half were "Undecided".
- Dr. Peter SturrockPeter A. SturrockPeter Andrew Sturrock is a British scientist.An emeritus professor of applied physics at Stanford University, much of Sturrock's career has been devoted to astrophysics, plasma physics, and solar physics, but Sturrock is interested in other fields, including ufology, scientific inference and in...
also polled the membership of the American Astronomical Society and found that "the greater the amount of time one spent on reading UFO-related material, the more likely one is to accept their reality" (p. 210).
Criticisms and controversies
Friedman is outspoken in his articulation of positions and in his criticism of UFO debunkers, often stating he is not an "apologist ufologist". His positions are regarded as controversial in mainstream science and media, but Friedman claims to have received little opposition at his many lectures, most of which have been at colleges and universities, many to engineering societies and other groups of physicists.(p. 24) He has had a number of debates in the mainstream media, including one with UFO skeptic Michael ShermerMichael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
on CNN.
Friedman has been criticized both by skeptics and other Roswell researchers for taking the position that there are no substantive grounds for dismissing the authenticity of some Majestic 12 documents. Friedman himself was the first to provide evidence that some of the documents are clearly hoaxes. For example, he showed that a supposed memo from Admiral Hillenkoetter to President Truman, dated February 17, 1948, was actually the emulation of a letter from Marshall to Roosevelt that featured in the book The American MAGIC. Friedman has researched the MJ-12 documents since first becoming aware of them from Wiliam Moore and Jaime Shandera in 1984. He addressed criticisms of the original documents in both sources. As an example, Philip J. Klass
Philip J. Klass
Philip Julian Klass was an American journalist and UFO researcher, known for his skepticism regarding UFOs. In the ufological and skeptical communities, Klass tends to inspire strongly polarized appraisals. Klass has been called the "Sherlock Holmes of UFOlogy"...
claimed lexicographic inconsistencies based on the use of Pica typeface in the Cutler-Twining memo and offered $100, in a challenge to Friedman, for each legitimate example of the use of the same style and size Pica type as used in the memo. Friedman provided 14 examples and was paid $1000 by Klass.(reproduced on p. 262)
Books
- Flying Saucers & Science, June 2008, 320P.
- Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. Co-author Kathleen Marden. Career Press / New Page Books, 2007. ISBN 978-156414-971-8, ISBN 978-1-56-924741-9
- Top Secret/MAJIC, Marlowe + Co. 2005. ISBN 1-56924-342-5. 296 pages, ISBN 978-1-56-924342-8
- Crash at Corona: The Definitive Story of The Roswell Incident. Co-author Don Berliner, 1997. ISBN 978-1-93-104489-9
- Science was Wrong: Startling truths about cures, theories, and inventions "They" declared impossible. Co-author Kathleen Marden. Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books. 2010.
Videos, VHS, DVD
- Safespace - Fastwalkers - Winter 2006
- UFOs: Stanton Friedman's revelation - an interview with Stanton Friedman
- 2 DVDs - FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL DVD (NOT VHS) Vol. 1, 1993 Video 84 min. (Filmed at Kennedy Space Center) and FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL Vol. 2, 1996 75 min for a Total Length of 168 minutes.
- 2006 151 Minute 2 disc DVD set "UFO SECRET MJ-12: Do You Believe in Majic?". "Includes Canadian TV Broadcast "Do You Believe in Majic?" (Mostly Stan Friedman vs. Karl Pflock + Stan Friedman's Lecture at Aztec 2003 about Roswell and MJ-12++ outtakes from DYBM.
- RECOLLECTIONS OF ROSWELL DVD 105 min. Featuring testimony from 27 Roswell witnesses.
- Debate "Are Flying Saucers Real?" VHS 2 Hrs. 2 Hour formal Debate STF vs. USAF Pilot Major James Magaha. Middle Tenn. State Univ. January 2004. Includes Q & A.
- UFOs Are Real (1979) VHS - 92 min.