Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy ( or ), is the investigation of

unidentified flying object An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

s (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

, and

fringe science Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already Objection (argument), refuted. The chance of ideas rejected by editors and published outside the mainstream being correct is remote. Wh ...

investigations of UFOs, ufology is generally regarded by

skeptics Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

and science educators as an example of

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

Etymology

Ufology is a

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

derived from ''

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

'' (a term apparently coined by

Edward J. Ruppelt Edward James Ruppelt (July 17, 1923 – September 15, 1960) was a United States Air Force officer probably best known for his involvement in Project Blue Book, a formal governmental study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). He is generally ...

), and is derived from appending the acronym UFO with the suffix ''

-logy ''-logy'' is a suffix in the English language, used with words originally adapted from Ancient Greek ending in ('). The earliest English examples were anglicizations of the French '' -logie'', which was in turn inherited from the Latin '' -l ...

'' (from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''-λογία'' (''-logia'')). Early uses of ufology include an article in ''Fantastic Universe'' (1957) and a 1958 presentation for the UFO "research organization" The Planetary Center.

Historical background

The roots of ufology include the " mystery airships" of the late 1890s, the "

foo fighter The term ''foo fighters'' was used by Allied aircraft pilots during World War II to describe various unidentified flying objects (UFO) or mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over both the European and Pacific theaters of operations. ...

s" reported by Allied airmen during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the "ghost fliers" of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

during the 1930s, the "

ghost rockets Ghost rockets (, also called Scandinavian ghost rockets) were rocket- or missile-shaped unidentified flying objects sighted in 1946, mostly in Sweden and nearby countries like Finland. The first reports of ghost rockets were made on February 26 ...

" of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

(mainly Sweden) in 1946, and the Kenneth Arnold "flying saucer" sighting of 1947. Media attention to the Arnold sighting helped publicize the concept of

flying saucer A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported type of disc-shaped unidentified flying object (UFO). The term was coined in 1947 by the United States (US) news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, Kenneth Arnold claimed fl ...

s. Publicity of UFOs increased after World War II, coinciding with the escalation of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

and strategic concerns related to the development and detection (e.g., the

Ground Observer Corps The Ground Observer Corps (GOC), sometimes erroneously referred to as the Ground ''Observation'' Corps, was the name of two American civil defense organizations during the middle 20th century. World War II organization The first Ground Observer ...

) of advanced

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

aircraft. Official, government-sponsored activities in the United States related to ufology ended in the late 1960s following the

Condon Committee The Condon Committee was the informal name of the University of Colorado UFO Project, a group funded by the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1968 at the University of Colorado to study unidentified flying objects under the direction of physi ...

report and the termination of

Project Blue Book Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Fo ...

. Government-sponsored, UFO-related activities in other countries, including the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Canada, Denmark, Italy, and Sweden also ended. An exception to this trend is France, which maintains the

GEIPAN GEIPAN (an acronym in French for , or Unidentified Aerospace Phenomenon Research and Information Group) () is a unit of the French space agency CNES based in Toulouse, whose brief is to investigate unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAP) and make ...

program, formerly known as GEPAN (1977–1988) and SEPRA (1988–2004), operated by the French Space Agency

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

. On 14 September 2023, NASA reported the appointment, for the first time, of a Director of

U.A.P. An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

(known earlier as U.F.O.), identified as

Mark McInerney Mark A. McInerney is an American meteorologist, climate data scientist, and employee at NASA. He is the NASA Director of UAP Research since 2023. Education and career McInerney studied meteorology at Central Michigan University, where he rece ...

, to scientifically and transparently study such occurrences.

As a field

Status as a pseudoscience

Despite investigations sponsored by governments and private entities, ufology is not embraced by academia as a scientific field of study, and is instead generally considered a

and science educators, being often included on lists of topics characterized as pseudoscience as either a partial or total pseudoscience. ''

Pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

'' is a term that classifies arguments that are claimed to exemplify the methods and principles of science, but do not adhere to an appropriate

scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...

, lack supporting evidence, plausibility,

falsifiability Falsifiability (or refutability) is a deductive standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses, introduced by the Philosophy of science, philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book ''The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). ...

, or otherwise lack scientific status. Some writers have identified social factors that contribute to the status of ufology as a pseudoscience, with one study suggesting that "any science doubt surrounding unidentified flying objects and aliens was not primarily due to the ignorance of ufologists about science, but rather a product of the respective research practices of and relations between ufology, the sciences, and government investigative bodies". One study suggests that "the rudimentary standard of

science communication Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities that connect science and society. Common goals of science communication include informing non-experts about scientific findings, raising the Public awareness of science, public awar ...

attending to the extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) hypothesis for UFOs inhibits public understanding of science, dissuades academic inquiry within the physical and social sciences, and undermines progressive space policy initiatives".

Current interest

In 2021, astronomer

Avi Loeb Abraham "Avi" Loeb (; born February 26, 1962) is an Israeli and American theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, where since 2007 he has been Direc ...

launched

The Galileo Project The Galileo Project is an international scientific research project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence or extraterrestrial technology on and near Earth and to identify the nature of anomalous Unidentified Flying Objects/Unidentified Aer ...

which intends to collect and report scientific evidence of extraterrestrials or extraterrestrial technology on or near Earth via telescopic observations. In Germany, the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

is developing intelligent sensors that can help detect and analyze aerial objects in hopes of applying such technology to UAP. A 2021

Gallup Gallup may refer to: * Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll * Gallup (surname), a surname *Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States ** Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New ...

poll found that belief among Americans in some UFOs being extraterrestrial spacecraft grew between 2019 and 2021 from 33% to 41%. Gallup cited increased coverage in mainstream news and scrutiny from government authorities as a factor in changing attitudes towards UFOs. In 2022, NASA announced a nine-month study starting in the fall to help establish a road map for investigating UAP—or for reconnaissance of the publicly available data it might use for such research. In 2023, the RAND Corporation published a study reviewing 101,151 public reports of UAP sightings in the United States from 1998 to 2022. The models used to conduct the analysis showed that reports of UAP sightings were less likely within 30 km of weather stations, 60 km of civilian airports, and in more–densely populated areas, while rural areas tended to have a higher rate of UAP reports. The most consistent and statistically significant finding was that reports of UAP sightings were more likely to occur within 30 km of military operations areas, where routine military training occurs.

Methodological issues

Although some ufologists (e.g., Peter A. Sturrock) have proposed explicit methodological activities for the investigation of UFOs, scientific UFO research is challenged by the facts that the phenomena are spatially and temporally unpredictable, are not reproducible, and lack tangible physicality.Denzler (2003), p. 35 That most UFO sightings have mundane explanationsMarkovsky B., "UFOs", in ''The Skeptic's Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', edited by

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 pseudoscientif ...

, 2002 Skeptics Society, p. 260 limits interpretive power of "interesting," extraordinary UFO-related events, with the astronomer

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

writing: "The reliable cases are uninteresting and the interesting cases are unreliable. Unfortunately there are no cases that are both reliable and interesting." The ufologists

J. Allen Hynek Josef Allen Hynek (May 1, 1910 – April 27, 1986) was an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific advisor to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force un ...

and

Jacques Vallée Jacques Fabrice Vallée (; born September 24, 1939) is an Internet pioneer, computer scientist, venture capitalist, author, ufologist and astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California and Paris, France. His scientific career bega ...

have each developed descriptive systems for characterizing UFO sightings and, by extension, for organizing ufology investigations.

Phenomena linked to ufology

In addition to UFO sightings, certain supposedly related phenomena are of interest to some ufologists, including

crop circle A crop circle, crop formation, or corn circle is a pattern created by flattening a crop, usually a cereal. The term was first coined in the early 1980s. Crop circles have been described as all falling "within the range of the sort of thing ...

s, cattle mutilations, anomalous materials, alien abductions and implants. Some ufologists have also promoted

UFO conspiracy theories Some conspiracy theories argue that various governments and politicians globally, in particular the United States government, are suppressing evidence that unidentified flying objects (UFO) are controlled by an extraterrestrial or "non-human" i ...

, including the

Roswell Incident The Roswell Incident started in 1947 with the recovery of debris near Roswell, New Mexico. It later became the basis for conspiracy theories alleging that the United States military recovered a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft. The debri ...

of 1947, the

Majestic 12 Majestic 12, also known as ''Majic-12'', and MJ-12 for short, is a purported organization that appeared in fake documents first circulated by ufologists in 1984, and that some UFO conspiracy theories still claim to have existed. The organization ...

documents, and UFO disclosure advocates. Skeptic

Robert Sheaffer Robert Sheaffer (born 1949) is an American freelance writer and UFO skeptic. He is a paranormal investigator of unidentified flying objects, having researched many sightings and written critiques of the hypothesis that UFOs are alien spacecra ...

has accused ufology of having a "credulity explosion,"Sheaffer, Robert. "A Skeptical Perspective on UFO Abductions". In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press. pp. 382–388. writing that "the kind of stories generating excitement and attention in any given year would have been rejected by mainstream ufologists a few years earlier for being too outlandish." The physicist

James E. McDonald James Edward McDonald (May 7, 1920 – June 13, 1971) was an American atmospheric physicist and meteorologist. He is known for his scientific research in weather modification through cloud seeding, while working as an associate director at the I ...

also identified "cultism" and "extreme...subgroups" as negatively impacting ufology.McDonald (1968)

In Posadism

During the

, ufology was synthesized with the ideas of a

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

movement in South America known as Posadism. Posadism's main theorist, Juan Posadas, believed the human race must "appeal to the beings on other planets...to intervene and collaborate with Earth's inhabitants in suppressing poverty;" i.e., Posadas wished to collaborate with extraterrestrials to create a

socialist system A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically abo ...

on Earth. The adoption of this belief among Posadists, who had previously been a significant political force in South America, has been noted as a contributing factor in their decline.

Governmental and private ufology studies

Starting in the 1940s, governmental agencies and private groups sponsored investigations, studies, and conferences related to ufology. Typically motivated by visual UFO sightings, the goals of these studies included critical evaluation of the observational evidence, attempts to resolve and identify the observed events, and the development of policy recommendations. These studies include

Project Sign Project Sign or Project Saucer was an official U.S. government study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) undertaken by the United States Air Force (USAF) and active for most of 1948. It was the precursor to Project Grudge. History The proje ...

Project Magnet Project Magnet may refer to: * Project Magnet (UFO), a Canadian unidentified flying object (UFO) study * Project Magnet (USN), a U.S. Navy geomagnetic survey project using aircraft and ships 1951–1994 {{disambiguation ...

, the

Robertson Panel The Robertson Panel was a scientific committee which met in January 1953 headed by Howard P. Robertson. The Panel arose from a recommendation to the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) in December 1952 from a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ...

, and the

in the United States, the Flying Saucer Working Party and

Project Condign Project Condign (not to be confused with the Condon Committee) was a secret unidentified flying object (UFO) study undertaken by the British Government's Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) between 1997 and 2000.Simpson, Mark (2006-05-07)UFO study ...

in Britain,

in France, and Project Hessdalen in Norway. Private studies of UFO phenomena include those produced by the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

in 1968, Harvey Rutledge of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

from 1973 to 1980, and the National Press Club's

Disclosure Project Steven Macon Greer (born 1955) is an American Ufology, ufologist and a retired physician. He founded the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) and the Disclosure Project, which claims to seek the UFO conspiracy theory#Disc ...

in 2001. Additionally, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

from 1977 to 1979 sponsored meetings and hearings concerning UFO sightings. In August 2020, the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

established the

Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is an office within the United States Office of the Secretary of Defense that investigates unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and other phenomena in the air, sea, and/or space and/or on land: someti ...

to detect, analyze and catalog unidentified aerial phenomena that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security.

UFO organizations and events

A large number of private organizations dedicated to the study, discussion, and publicity of ufology and other UFO-related topics exist worldwide, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Switzerland. Along with such "pro-UFO" groups are skeptic organizations that emphasize the pseudoscientific nature of ufology. During the annual World UFO Day (2 July), ufologists and associated organizations raise public awareness of ufology to "tell the truth about earthly visits from outer space aliens." The day's events include group gatherings to search for and observe UFOs.

References

External links

Ufology News

Center for UFO Studies

Mutual UFO Network

National UFO Reporting Center

Groupe d'Études et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés

British UFO Research Association

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry UFO resources
{{Pseudoscience, state=collapsed