Stanton Friedman
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 5
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Friedman |
| On the Timeline | 3 events, 1961–2012 |
Stanton Terry Friedman (29 July 1934 – 13 May 2019) was an American-Canadian nuclear physicist and UFO researcher, best known for reviving the Roswell incident in 1978 and for decades of lectures arguing that some UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft. He called himself "the flying saucer physicist".[1][2]
Early life and physics career
Friedman was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and grew up in Linden. After attending Rutgers University, he transferred to the University of Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1955 and a master's degree in nuclear physics in 1956; astronomer Carl Sagan was a classmate. He then spent about 14 years as a physicist at companies including General Electric, Aerojet General Nucleonics, General Motors, Westinghouse, TRW Systems and McDonnell Douglas, working on classified programs for nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets and compact space power plants.[1]
UFO research
In 1970 Friedman left full-time physics to research and lecture on UFOs. He gave talks at more than 600 colleges and over 100 professional groups and published more than 80 papers. He argued that the evidence showed some UFOs were alien craft and that governments were hiding it.[1][2]
In 1978 he interviewed retired Maj. Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer who had collected the Roswell debris in 1947. Marcel's statement that the material was not of this world began the revival of the Roswell story, and Friedman became, by many accounts, the first civilian researcher to document the case. With Don Berliner he wrote Crash at Corona (1992), which argued for two crashed saucers and recovered bodies.[1][3]
Friedman was a leading defender of the Majestic 12 documents, arguing in Top Secret/Majic (1996) that some were genuine, while also showing that others were hoaxes. In a dispute with skeptic Philip Klass over the typeface used on the documents, Friedman supplied examples that won him a $1,000 payment from Klass.[1] He also championed the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill abduction case, co-writing Captured! (2007) with Kathleen Marden, Betty Hill's niece, and defended the "star map" Betty Hill drew as matching nearby sun-like stars.[1]
He was a sharp critic of the SETI search for radio signals, arguing that it ignored evidence already at hand, and of skeptics he called "noisy negativists". His other books include Flying Saucers and Science (2008).[1][4]
Personal life and death
Friedman moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick, in the early 1980s. He donated his papers to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. He died of a heart attack at Toronto Pearson Airport on 13 May 2019, returning from a speaking engagement in Ohio.[1][2][5]
On the UAP Timeline
- Philip Corso's Roswell claims (1961) — Army Col. Philip Corso claims he handled autopsy reports and recovered alien artifacts.
- The Day After Roswell (June 1997) — Philip Corso claims he helped seed recovered UAP technology into U.S. industry.
- John Herrington briefing story (2012) — An author relays a story told by a neighbor of a former Energy Secretary.
References
- Stanton T. Friedman — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Richard Sandomir, "Stanton T. Friedman, Scientist Who Tracked U.F.O.s, Dies at 84", The New York Times (21 May 2019) · nytimes.com · archived copy
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "UFO expert has little patience for 'nasty, noisy negativists'", The Star Phoenix (2007) · web.archive.org · archived copy
- "Stanton Friedman, famed UFO researcher, dead at 84", CBC News (2019) · cbc.ca · 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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