Tarrytown, New York: Sturrock workshop puts physical UFO evidence before scientists

Under the auspices of the Society for Scientific Exploration and funded by Laurance Rockefeller, physicist Peter A. Sturrock held a workshop at the Pocantico Conference Center in Tarrytown, New York, at which UFO researchers presented their best data to a panel of scientists charged with deciding whether the available physical evidence could lead to a resolution of the UFO question. The panel included Thomas E. Holzer, Charles R. Tolbert, Von R. Eshleman, J. R. Jokipii, François Louange, H. Jay Melosh, James J. Papike, Günther Reitz and Bernard Veyret; the evidence was presented by Richard F. Haines, Illobrand von Ludwiger, Mark Rodeghier, John F. Schuessler, Erling Strand, Michael D. Swords, Jacques Vallée and SEPRA director Jean-Jacques Velasco. The panel observed that the UFO problem is not simple and unlikely to have a universal answer, that unexplained observations may teach scientists something new, that studies should focus on cases with as much independent physical evidence as possible, that continued contact between the UFO community and physical scientists could be productive, and that institutional support for such research is desirable. After four days of presentations and discussions, Sturrock announced that the panel would issue a statement encouraging UFO study by scientists; the proceedings appeared in the Journal of Scientific Exploration in 1998. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.