University of Colorado UFO Project (Condon Committee)
| University of Colorado UFO Project (Condon Committee) | |
|
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agency seal, illustrative placeholder | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Parent department | University of Colorado, funded by U.S. Air Force |
| Established | 1966 |
| Dissolved | 1968 (project concluded) |
| Status | Defunct |
The University of Colorado UFO Project, commonly called the Condon Committee after its director, physicist Edward Condon, was a roughly $500,000 Air Force-funded academic study commissioned to provide an independent scientific assessment of UFO evidence.
Controversy
The project was troubled from early on by an internal memo, leaked partway through, suggesting the study’s outcome was predetermined to be dismissive; some staff scientists resigned or were dismissed amid the resulting controversy, which critics have cited ever since as undermining the study’s claimed independence.
Conclusion and impact
The committee’s final 1968 report concluded that further extensive study of UFOs could not be justified in the expectation that science would be advanced, though a case-by-case appendix, authored by the working scientists, left roughly 30% of examined cases unexplained. The Air Force cited the report’s summary conclusion in closing Project Blue Book the following year.
[1]See also
References
- ^ Condon, E. U., dir. (1968). Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (Condon Report). University of Colorado.
- ^ Saunders, D.; Harkins, R. R. (1968). UFOs? Yes!: Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong.