Stanton Terry Friedman (July 29, 1934 – May 13, 2019) was an American nuclear
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
and professional
ufologist
Ufology ( ) is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of government, private, and ...
who resided in New Brunswick, Canada. He was the original civilian investigator of the
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell incident was an event that occurred in 1947, pertaining to the recovery of mundane metallic and rubber debris from a military balloon that crashed near Corona, New Mexico by United States Army Air Forces officers from Roswell Army ...
.
Early life
Born in
Elizabeth, New Jersey, Friedman was raised in nearby
Linden and graduated from
Linden High School in 1951; he attended
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
and then transferred to the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
, earning a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
in 1955 and a master's degree in
nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...
in 1956.
Career in nuclear physics
Friedman was employed for 14 years as a nuclear physicist for such companies as
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
(1956–1959),
Aerojet General Nucleonics (1959–1963),
General Motors (1963–1966),
Westinghouse (1966–1968),
TRW Systems (1969–1970), and
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it pro ...
, 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 consulted for the
radon
Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...
-detection industry. Friedman's professional affiliations included the
American Nuclear Society
The American Nuclear Society (ANS) is an international, not-for-profit organization of scientists, engineers, and industry professionals that promote the field of nuclear engineering and related disciplines.
ANS is composed of three communities: ...
, the
American Physical Society, the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...
, and
AFTRA.
UFO investigations and advocacy
In 1970, Friedman left full-time employment as a physicist to pursue the scientific investigation of
unidentified flying object
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...
s (UFOs). Since then, he gave lectures at more than 600 colleges and to more than 100 professional groups in 50 states, 10 provinces, and 19 countries outside the US.
Additionally, he worked as a consultant on the topic. He published more than 80 UFO-related papers and appeared on many radio and television programs.
[Friedman, S. (2008). ''Flying Saucers and Science: A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs''. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books ] He also provided written testimony to Congressional hearings and appeared twice at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
.
Friedman consistently favored use of the term "
flying saucer
A flying saucer (also referred to as "a flying disc") is a descriptive term for a type of flying craft having a disc or saucer-shaped body, commonly used generically to refer to an anomalous flying object. The term was coined in 1947 but has g ...
" 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."
He used to refer to himself as "The Flying Saucer Physicist", because of his degrees in
nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...
and work on nuclear projects.
Friedman's positions regarding UFO phenomena
Friedman was the first civilian to document the site of the
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell incident was an event that occurred in 1947, pertaining to the recovery of mundane metallic and rubber debris from a military balloon that crashed near Corona, New Mexico by United States Army Air Forces officers from Roswell Army ...
,
[
] and supported the hypothesis that it was a genuine crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
[Berliner, D. & Friedman, S.T. (2004). ''Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-up of A UFO''. Cosimo, Inc. ] In 1968 Friedman told a committee of the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
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
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD; also called magneto-fluid dynamics or hydromagnetics) is the study of the magnetic properties and behaviour of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such magnetofluids include plasmas, liquid metals, ...
propulsion.
In 1996, after researching and fact checking the
Majestic 12
Majestic 12, also known as MJ-12 for short, is a purported organization that appears in UFO conspiracy theories. The organization is claimed to be the code name of an alleged secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government offic ...
documents, Friedman said that there was no substantive grounds for dismissing their authenticity.
[Friedman, S.T. (1996). ''Top Secret/MAJIC: Operation Majestic-12 and the United States Government's UFO Cover-Up''. New York: Marlowe & Company. ]
In 2004, on
George Noory
George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is syndicated to hundreds of radio stations in ...
's ''Coast to Coast'' radio show, Friedman debated
Seth Shostak
Seth Shostak (born July 20, 1943) is an American astronomer and author, and is currently the senior astronomer for the SETI Institute.
Shostak hosts SETI's weekly radio show/podcast ''Big Picture Science'', has played himself numerous times in TV ...
, the
SETI Institute
The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...
's Senior Astronomer. Like Friedman, Shostak also believes in the existence of intelligent life other than humans; however, unlike Friedman, he does not believe such life is now on Earth or is related to UFO sightings.
Friedman hypothesized that
UFOs
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...
may originate from relatively nearby sunlike stars.
(p. 217)
A piece of evidence that he often cited 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
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
Marjorie Fish constructed a three-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.
SETI
Friedman stated strong views against
search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) research. Friedman contested the implicit premise of SETI that there has been no extraterrestrial visitation of the planet, because it was his claim that SETI was seeking only signals, not extraterrestrial intelligence or beings. He maintained that the prominence and widespread public claims of those involved with SETI have tended to prevent serious research, including research by journalists, of UFOs.
(p. 129)
Friedman was a classmate of
Carl Sagan at the University of Chicago. Friedman criticized Sagan, a proponent of SETI, for ignoring empirical evidence, such as "600-plus ''unknowns''" of ''
Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14
Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, O ...
''. Friedman argued that these empirical data directly contradict Sagan's claim in ''Other Worlds'' that the "reliable cases are uninteresting and the interesting cases are unreliable". Specifically, Friedman referred to a table in ''Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14'' that he said "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 containing 'insufficient information'"
(p. 42).
Public and scientific opinion
Friedman said 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 one or two percent". He said that a talk he gave to Canadian journalists in
Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...
, 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 argued that the majority of people believe UFOs exist and at least some groups of scientists do as well. Friedman (2008) referred to the following data in support of his position:
*
Gallup Polls
Gallup, Inc. is an American analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Starting in the 1980s, Gallup transitioned its bu ...
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".
*
Peter Sturrock also polled the membership of the American Astronomical Society and found that "the greater the amount of time one spent on reading
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
-related material, the more likely one is to accept their reality" (p. 210).
Criticisms and controversies
Friedman was outspoken in his articulation of positions and in his criticism of UFO
debunker
A debunker is a person or organization that exposes or discredits claims believed to be false, exaggerated, or pretentious. "to expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated: to debunk adv ...
s, often stating he was not an "apologist ufologist". His positions are regarded as controversial in mainstream science and media, but Friedman claimed to have received little opposition at his many lectures, most of which were at colleges and universities, many to engineering societies and other groups of physicists
(p. 24). He had a number of debates in the mainstream media, including one with
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
skeptic
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of ''Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientifi ...
on
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
.
Friedman was 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 although Friedman was the first to provide evidence that some of the documents are clearly hoaxes. For example, he showed that a supposed memo from
Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter to
President Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
, dated February 17, 1948, was actually the emulation of a letter from Marshall to Roosevelt that was featured in the book ''The American MAGIC''. Friedman 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.
Personal life
Friedman was
Ashkenazi Jewish. He was married twice. His first wife was Susie Virginia Porter, with whom he adopted three children, but they divorced in April 1974. He had one daughter with his second wife, Marilyn. Friedman relocated to Marilyn's native
Fredericton, New Brunswick in the early 1980s.
On May 13, 2019, Friedman died of a heart attack at the
Toronto Pearson Airport.
Media
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.
* ''Top Secret/MAJIC'', Marlowe + Co. 2005. 296 pages,
* ''Crash at Corona: The Definitive Story of The Roswell Incident.'' Co-author Don Berliner, 1997.
* ''Science was Wrong: Startling truths about cures, theories, and inventions "They" declared impossible''. Co-author Kathleen Marden. Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books. 2010.
* ''Fact, Fiction, and Flying Saucers. '' Co-author Kathleen Marden. Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books. 2016.
Visual media
*
UFOs: Stanton Friedman's revelation' — (video) An interview with Stanton Friedman.
* ''Flying Saucers Are Real'' — VHS (1996), Vol. 1 84 minutes, Vol. 2 75 minutes (159 minutes total). Filmed at Kennedy Space Center.
* ''UFO Secret MJ-12'' — DVD (2006), 2 discs, 151 minutes. Stan Friedman's 2003 lecture at Aztec, New Mexico on Roswell and MJ-12.
* ''Recollections of Roswell'' — DVD, 105 minutes
* ''Are Flying Saucers Real?'' — VHS. Informal Debate. Middle Tennessee State University, January 2004. Includes Q & no A's.
*
UFOs Are Real' — VHS (1979), 92 minutes
CDs
* UFOs: The Real Story (1996)
References
External links
*
Interview with Stanton FriedmanFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Files on Stanton Friedman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Stanton T.
1934 births
2019 deaths
Linden High School (New Jersey) alumni
People from Linden, New Jersey
Rutgers University alumni
Scientists from New Jersey
University of Chicago alumni
Jewish American scientists
Jewish American writers
Jewish Canadian writers
American emigrants to Canada
American nuclear physicists
Canadian nuclear physicists
Writers from Elizabeth, New Jersey
Writers from Fredericton
Ufologists
American UFO writers
UFO conspiracy theorists
Pseudohistorians
Naturalized citizens of Canada
Canadian conspiracy theorists
21st-century American Jews