FEARLESS PHYSICIST TACKLES MYSTERY OF UFOS

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP75-00149R000100910001-3
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
November 11, 2016
Document Release Date: 
October 15, 1998
Sequence Number: 
1
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
October 9, 1966
Content Type: 
NSPR
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP75-00149R000100910001-3.pdf314.94 KB
Body: 
FHEADL!NE - PERSONALI r .-...:.._...~,,.w... OCT 9 1966 Sa'riitized - Approved For Release : CIA- 0 -.st HINES .,.a.~ Writer --I, , V-1) 7.4 l 'flyin saccr:: and neither ?believe nor disbelieves in them about to tackle the intrigu.. , mystery of the UFOs. UFO stands for '"unidenti fied flying object," which is - the official designation for what ordinary folk call flying- saucers. rt.??curring UFO "sighii gs? have been making life rr,iscr?abi for the Air' For. since List Thursriay, with an almost atuiihic sigh of relief, the Air For-a signed a con- ~ract wit! :he University of Colorado and tossed the UFOs' into thr lap of one of Colo- rado's most distinguished fac- ulty n 'mbers, Dr. Edward Uhler C'andon. 15-Month Contract Condon is stocky, crew- cut, 64-year-sic: physicist who has never run away from either myr ::y or a contro- versy. Sind ::,ere is plenty of both in the iiy;ng saucer issue, 2ondon is likely to have an hilts c .I.iII ,., uwui.na-Mu or n wear' ., ,,,..,...y Wass...,,., tee charges, "If it is true that period covered by the $313,000 1951-54, Member, National I am one of the weakest links Air Force contract. Advisory Committee for Aero- that is very gratifying and To observers of the Wash- noutics, 1945-51, Professor of ing,ran scene, it will be inter- Physics, University of Colorado, safe, for can feel absolutely m esting to watch the tough- 1963 s, for I am completely minded, often iconoclastic FAMILY-Wife, Emilie Honzik reliable, loyal, eonscientipus and devoted to the interests of Condon deal with the predomi- (married 1922), three children. my country...". nantly anti-saucer Air Force HOBBIES-Reading, politics. One of the charge's against on the one hand and for This is not likely to happen Condon in 1947-48 was that he vently pro-:saucer groups like Condon gets his way. He has "NICAP" on the other. was a member of the execu- en promised a "free hand" tive committee of the Ameri NICAP-the National Inves- by the Air Force-including can-Soviet Science Society. tigations Committee on Aerial access to all pertinent secret Another was that his wife, who Phenomena-is . the Washing- information-and, his record (was ton-bs>~d organization headed born in what is.-now. by retired Marine Maj. Donald E.' Keyr,oe that has been the. worsrt thorn in the Air Force's side on the saucer issue. Already, while hailing Lon- don's appointment as a step in the right direction, NICAP. Is . making noises . that his sdentific inquiry may be Sanitized - y . Rep. Chet Holifield (D.- Robert Oppenheimer case.j several years ago. After Oppenheimer- was put through the Atomic Energy Commission's meat-grinder ins; -a cause celebre of the mid- '50s, the frail and gentle scienti t a e d b dl s pp are a y J !Calif.), now chairman of the i FULL NAME Edward Uhler, injured by the experience. Condon. (Joint Congressional Commit- Condon, his bulldog jaw set tee on Atomic Energy and CLAIM TO FAME-Named to against friend and foe alike, head scientific inquiry into then one of its members, took , never seemed to show a bruise the floor of the House to blast flying saucers. ? from his ordeal. rumor-mongering character HOME-Boulder, Colo. Following his departure assassins (who should) put up BIRTHDAY-March 2, 1902, or shut up." from the Bureau of Standards, EDUCATION-A.B. and Ph.D., With characteristic good Condon headed research University of California. activities for Corning Glass l innate ~.. JOBS-Director, National Bureau humor masking his le but lost his Navy security of c.--a-.a. lode a, ;combativeness, Condon re-I i 1-1 ,ore H c n e indicates clearly that he will Czechoslovakia, had "interest- low a loud whistle if the Air ing" associations with people Force tries any funny bust- ess the Thomas group regarded as . The apparent clearance of unsavory. . . Condon by the Air Force for Was A Reporter. ee om mas er s , secret-data access is the latest A c'cuiarl -fetched chapter in an interesting tale charge against rCondon was Condon also Is lobbying;going back to 1947=-ironically ? that e had attended a c,r?_; single piece enthusiastically for the biggest", - single piece of Federal scienti and year of the coincidentally modern the birth- t. Calif,, st in 9 meeting in 9 in the Ise Of al . ble? Ark$375r Million satom- saucer u roar.,; ,, ,1,, reporter for, the old Oakland smasher ,which the Johnson , pproved For Release : CIA-RDP75-001.49ROOQ100910001-3 Thomas Enquirer.'Condon's reply was, S ead Bl pr aze that he was in fact a reporter the "atom spy" furor swept ; cover the r.:: ?through Washington like a Condon't early training in? the blaze, a little farther was Rep. J. Parnell Thomas of- 'New Jersey, head of, the the journalistic College of Hard Knocks-including a stint: on the Oakland Tribune-may have conditioned him -for the'. rough-and-tumble of - the House Committee on Un- postwar "security-risk" era. `American Activities. I his troubles, which culmi- Condon, head of the National nated in his resignation as .Bureau of Standards under I bureau of Standards director.j Secretary of Commerce Henry in 1951, foreshadowed the J. 5 A. Wallace in the Truman administration, found himself an early target of the Thomas committee. He was labeled by. ,One committee member "a # security risk and a weak link in our atomic securit chain`' Vice President Richard M. Nixon for this-justifiably or?, ,not-and, unforgivingly, when Nixon was defeated for gover-4 nor- of California in 1962 J congratulating the people of ment. embroiled In a state political, regent of the University, an. elective office In Colorado. He -. Is running as a Democrat, and. has received a ringing editori- al endorsement from "The" Nation," which may or may?i not count for ipuch in Colora-?1 do. ? S k At S h PYRGH' PYRGH 11 before half-a-dozen fascinated localities. Condon is using his 8l ... own con 'derab e ei t~6j elease : CIA-RDP75=00149R000100910001-3 Colorado's bid for the big CPYRGHT accel t era or. 7 Many years ago, in one of'. the great scientific inci- dences of all time, Cond and ? a Russian scientist med George Gamow indepen ently a ?. discovered the explanati n for spontaneous "decay" and release of energy. This as in :, the 'tween-wars period when atomic physics was a rely ' intellectual exercise wi h no apparent useful applicati as. To carry the coinciden one > step farther, Gamow s bse- quently came to the ited States, and both men no live in the same pleasant to of Boulder, half an hour's rive by freeway from the cen r of Denver. For a man whose scie tific life has been closely gin d to atomic energy, it was ap- propriate that Condon s ould b first nuclear device was Ying saucer . inquiry. ;, 1~'or:".times have gone forever.!' ?1;t;, ,.have been born at Alam gor-. do N.Mex. near wher the 9 1966 after his mother's family. ment of Science. But while more than an hour he fielded' climbing onward and upward questions, sor.,.~ searching, in science, Condon has never some hostile, some pretty' completely lost his love for the stupid, and gave every indica- printed page, as both producer, . tion of relishing the experi- and consumer. , ence. Condon is editor of "Re-`. Some of the reporters, vicws of Modern Physics," a familiar with Condon's tower-, scientific journal of high ing scientific reputation and repute, a member of the knowing the background of the publications board of the saucer controversy, wondered American Institute of Physics: aloud why he would touch the and chairman of the advisory issue with a 10-meter pole. His hoard of International answer was simple: It's an' Science and Technology," a intriguing mystery that hasn't i highbrow monthly magazine .' really been looked Into thor- circulated among scientifical- oughly. ly oriented business leaders. But considering his own Ile ,reads avidly; reading is adventures in the wonderland is principal hobby. of Washington, hadn't Condon,, On Friday Condon was in had enough traumatic experi- , Now York attending a meeting ' . ences for one lifetime? "Not f the governing board of the' traumatic," he replied. "Una++ merican Institute of Physics. pleasant, perhaps, but .not'. , e t k ti oo me off to hold. a .:.:.traumatic.. ress conference on the new' `.. "An ay+ :I think those' mination to pursue a scie tific 1' well-beloved teacher. He won the ? University of California, Recalls Strange Firing. . He recalls fondly the experi- y once of being fired off the'.! t -copy desk of the Oakland'.) Tribune for writing an incor-: rect headline on ah obituary of. "he hadn't been showing up for- k ' ' wor . . ,I "You 'fired me," Condon `t. rejoined, "when you're' fired' I jf to take the rest of the day off. I and come. back in the next. ,,!j day." ing job security, Condon decided to go ahead with a life of science, which was to seem G.> years. But if he had his ups , lacked the esteem of his. colleagues. He has been, among many' eminent things, president of { . American Ph sical i a 1 r ig rss l3p~~?M is p ! Association, for the Advance-,