Extraterrestrial hypothesis
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📖 Term
Contents 7
| Type | Term |
|---|---|
| Also known as | ETH, extraterrestrial hypothesis |
| On the Timeline | 2 events, 1956–2022 |
The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) is the proposal that some UFOs are physical spacecraft built or operated by intelligent beings from other planets. It has little support among scientists, who mostly attribute reports to misidentified ordinary objects, natural phenomena or hoaxes.[1]
The term
The phrase "extraterrestrial hypothesis" was used by Janine and Jacques Vallée in 1966, by Aimé Michel in 1967, and by atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald and skeptic Philip Klass in 1968. Some historians credit physicist Edward Condon with popularising the term and its abbreviation around 1969.[1]
History
The idea of visitors from other worlds is older than the modern UFO era. It was shaped by debate about life on other planets, Percival Lowell's claims of canals on Mars, H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1897), and writer Charles Fort's books of the 1910s–1930s. After Kenneth Arnold's sighting in June 1947 began the "flying saucer" wave, a Gallup poll that August found that most Americans had no opinion or favoured ordinary explanations.[1]
In 1948 Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt Vandenberg rejected the extraterrestrial explanation for lack of physical evidence. In 1952 Life magazine's article "Have We Visitors From Space?" helped popularise the idea, and in 1953 the CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel recommended a public campaign to reduce interest in UFOs. The 1968 Condon Report concluded that further study was unlikely to be useful, though some of its staff dissented. In 1999 the French COMETA report, written mainly by defence analysts, said the hypothesis best fitted the facts, though it was not proven.[1]
Objections
In 1983 J. Allen Hynek, long associated with serious UFO study, listed seven problems with the ETH: radar and satellites did not detect craft arriving or leaving; reported aliens are too humanlike and breathe Earth's air; there are too many encounters for any plausible visiting civilisation; abduction accounts are inconsistent; UFOs appear and disappear leaving little evidence; many craft are too small for a crew; and interstellar distances make travel impractical, which he considered the most serious objection.[1]
Opinion
Polls have repeatedly found that many people believe UFOs are real; a 2002 Roper poll put the figure at 56 per cent. Scientists have been more cautious: in a 1977 survey of American Astronomical Society members by Peter Sturrock, respondents gave an alien device a probability of about 3 per cent as the explanation for UFO reports. In 2011 the White House said the government had no evidence of extraterrestrial life or contact.[1][2]
Alternatives
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Some ufologists, including Jacques Vallée and John Keel, rejected the ETH in favour of ideas that UFOs come from other dimensions or are a form of a much older phenomenon; see ultraterrestrial hypothesis.[3]
On the UAP Timeline
- Ruppelt's account of the Estimate of the Situation (February 1956) — Edward Ruppelt writes he once saw a top-secret 'Estimate of the Situation' on UAP.
- December 2022 Pentagon UAP briefing (17 December 2022) — Pentagon officials say they've seen no evidence that crashed UAP are from another world.
References
- Extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Peter Sturrock, "Report on a Survey of the Membership of the American Astronomical Society Concerning the UFO Problem", UFO Evidence · ufoevidence.org · archived copy
- Interdimensional hypothesis — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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