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From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event

Contents 8
Condon Report
Condon crater
Condon crater Photo: NASA · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Date15 November 1968
TopicsGovernment programs (topic)
PeopleEdward Condon, Robert Low, J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald
TestimonyShellenberger testimony, p. 72
Year1968 in UFO history
Timeline1968 on the UAP Timeline
Sources18

The Condon Report, formally the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, was the final report of the University of Colorado UFO Project, an Air Force-funded study directed by physicist Edward Condon from 1966 to 1968. Released in January 1969, it concluded that further scientific study of UFOs was unlikely to be fruitful, and the Air Force used it to close Project Blue Book. It remains one of the most debated documents in UFO history.[1][2]

Origins of the study

Gerald Ford's presidential portrait
Gerald Ford's presidential portrait Photo: David Hume Kennerly · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

After a wave of sightings in 1965–66 and public pressure, including from Congressman Gerald Ford, the Air Force's Scientific Advisory Board (the O'Brien Committee) recommended an independent university study. Several universities declined. On the suggestion of Walter Orr Roberts and astronomer Donald Menzel, the Air Force approached Condon, and on 6 October 1966 the University of Colorado agreed. The Air Force's initial offer was $313,000, and funding eventually exceeded $500,000.[2]

Staff and the Low memo

Edward U. Condon, circa 1945-1951 National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Archives, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
Edward U. Condon, circa 1945-1951 National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Archives, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Condon was director and assistant dean Robert Low was project coordinator. Investigators included Stuart Cook, Franklin Roach, David Saunders, William Scott, astronomer William K. Hartmann, Michael Wertheimer, chemist Roy Craig and Norman Levine. Civilian groups NICAP and APRO shared case files.[2]

A memo written by Low on 9 August 1966, before the study began, predicted the project would show that UFO reports had no reality and spoke of a "trick" for presenting it as objective to the public. Atmospheric physicist James McDonald learned of it in 1967. When Saunders and Levine shared it, they were dismissed, and journalist John Fuller published "Flying Saucer Fiasco" in Look magazine in May 1968, calling the project a "$500,000 trick". NICAP cut its ties with the study on 30 April 1968, and Low resigned that May. Condon called the Look article full of "falsehoods and misrepresentations".[2][3]

The report

Dr. J. Allen Hynek (left) and Dr. Jacques Vallée (right).
Dr. J. Allen Hynek (left) and Dr. Jacques Vallée (right). Photo: United States Government · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

The Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects was delivered in November 1968 and released in January 1969. It ran to 1,485 pages in hardcover, with 59 case studies. Condon's summary concluded that nothing from 21 years of UFO study had added to scientific knowledge and that further extensive study was probably not justified, while acknowledging this "may not be true for all time". Yet some case studies remained unexplained; the report judged that the 1956 Lakenheath–Bentwaters radar-visual case had a "fairly high" probability of involving a genuine unknown, and Hynek estimated that more than a quarter of the cases went unexplained.[2][4]

A National Academy of Sciences panel chaired by Gerald Clemence endorsed the report, Science called it the most thorough study of the subject, and The New York Times headlined "No Visits From Afar". The Air Force cited it when closing Project Blue Book on 17 December 1969.[2][5]

Criticism

Illustration of official papers and files
Illustration: official papers and files. An artist's impression drawn for this site, not a photograph of the event.

Hynek called the report "voluminous, rambling, poorly organized" and said it "settled nothing"; McDonald called it inadequate; and in 1970 a subcommittee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics disagreed with its prediction that further study would yield nothing of scientific value. Physicist Peter Sturrock later analysed the gap between the report's case studies and Condon's summary.[2]

People and topics

J. Edgar Hoover, head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1961.
J. Edgar Hoover, head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1961. Photo: Marion S. Trikosko · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
  • Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
  • Michigan swamp gas UFO reports — A 1966 wave of UFO reports in Michigan that J. Allen Hynek suggested might be marsh gas.
  • U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
  • Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
  • Edward Condon — Physicist who led the University of Colorado UFO study (1966–68).
  • Robert Low — Project coordinator of the Condon Committee.
  • J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
  • James E. McDonald — University of Arizona atmospheric physicist who campaigned for serious UFO research in the 1960s.
  • Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.

On the Timeline

This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, of the Crab Nebula , a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant…
This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, of the Crab Nebula , a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant… Photo: NASA , ESA , J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

See every 1968 event on the UAP Timeline →

References

  1. Edward Condon — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
  2. Condon Report — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
  3. John G. Fuller, "Flying Saucer Fiasco", Look (May 1968) — Project 1947 · project1947.com · archived copy
  4. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (Condon Report), full text — National Capital Area Skeptics · ncas.org · archived copy
  5. Walter Sullivan, "Science: U.F.O. Verdict", The New York Times (12 Jan 1969) · nytimes.com · archived copy
  6. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects — DTIC · apps.dtic.mil · archived copy
  7. Condon Committee — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
  8. The full Condon report — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  9. Final Report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (Condon Report, PDF) — DTIC · apps.dtic.mil · archived copy
  10. Condon Report full text (HTML) — National Capital Area Skeptics · files.ncas.org · archived copy
  11. Condon Report cover letter, Oct 1968 — Project 1947 · project1947.com · archived copy
  12. Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, House Science and Astronautics, 29 July 1968 — GovInfo · govinfo.gov · archived copy
  13. 1968 Roush UFO symposium (full text) — NCAS · files.ncas.org · archived copy
  14. Air Force closes Project Blue Book — New York Times, 18 Dec 1969 (Patrick Gross) · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
  15. The 1969 Bolender memo — NICAP · nicap.org · archived copy
  16. 50 years ago: government stops investigating UFOs — National Archives Foundation · archivesfoundation.org · archived copy
  17. documents2.theblackvault.com · documents2.theblackvault.com · archived copy
  18. archive.org · archive.org · archived copy

Further reading

  1. Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
  2. Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
  3. Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  4. J. Allen Hynek — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
Categories: 1968 | Edward condon | Government programs | Michigan swamp gas ufo reports | Timeline event | Unidentified anomalous phenomena | Unidentified flying object | Us air force

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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