Person · 29 July 1934 – 13 May 2019
Stanton Friedman
Also known as Stanton T. Friedman, Stan Friedman, Friedman
- UFO researcher and lecturer from 1970; earlier a nuclear physicist on classified nuclear-aircraft and space-propulsion programmes at General Electric, Aerojet, Westinghouse, TRW and McDonnell Douglas (1956–1970)
Stanton Friedman (1934–2019) was an American-Canadian nuclear physicist who left industry in 1970 to research UFOs full time. For fourteen years he had worked on classified nuclear propulsion programmes for General Electric, Aerojet, Westinghouse, TRW and McDonnell Douglas, where he was hired for the company's late-1960s UFO propulsion study. Calling himself "the flying saucer physicist", he lectured at more than 600 colleges, submitted a statement to the 1968 House symposium on UFOs and appeared twice at the United Nations.
He was the first civilian researcher to document the Roswell case: in 1978 a tip led him to Maj. Jesse Marcel, which opened the modern Roswell story, told in his Crash at Corona (with Don Berliner). He also championed the Betty and Barney Hill case and some of the MJ-12 papers, whose authenticity he defended while exposing others as hoaxes; that stance drew criticism from sceptics and from other Roswell researchers. At the 2013 Citizen Hearing he testified on documents, archives and Roswell.
His physics career is documented; his conclusions on UFOs are his own research and opinion.
Sources: Wikipedia · Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (2013)
Facts and claims
- claimed Friedman worked for 14 years as a nuclear physicist for companies including General Electric, Aerojet General Nucleonics, General Motors, Westinghouse, TRW and McDonnell Douglas, on classified programmes for nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets and compact nuclear power plants for space. Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
- claimed In 1968 he told a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that the evidence suggests Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled extraterrestrial vehicles. — Stanton Friedman Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
- claimed When Philip Klass challenged him to find examples of the pica typeface used in an MJ-12 memo, Friedman produced 14 and Klass paid him $1,000; Friedman also showed that some MJ-12 papers were clearly hoaxes. Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
Connected files
Books
- Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience (authored)
- Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO (authored)
- Fact, Fiction, and Flying Saucers: The Truth Behind the Misinformation, Distortion, and Derision by Debunkers, Government Agencies, and Conspiracy Con-Artists (authored)
- Flying Saucers and Science: A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs (authored)
- Top Secret/Majic: Operation Majestic-12 and the United States Government's UFO Cover-up (authored)
- UFO Secrets Inside Wright-Patterson: Eyewitness Accounts from the Real Area 51 (wrote foreword for)
Claims
- Betty and Barney Hill were taken aboard a non-human craft in New Hampshire in September 1961 (asserts)
- A craft of non-human origin crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, and the military recovered it (asserts)
Hearings & briefings
- Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (testified at)
Incidents
- Roswell crash (researched) — He was the first civilian researcher to document the Roswell case, after finding Jesse Marcel in 1978
People
- Jesse Marcel Jr. (interviewed)
Documents
- FBI file: Majestic 12 (researched) — He defended the authenticity of some MJ-12 papers while showing others to be hoaxes
Videos
- UFO Cover-Up?: Live! (1988 television special) (appears in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Documents & Proof (appears in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Opening statements (Mitchell, Hellyer) (appears in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 1 (appears in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 2 (appears in)
Mentioned in videos
- UFO Cover-Up Live with Larry King (CNN/TNT, 1994)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Documents & Proof
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 1
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 2
Mentioned in documents and records
- Case MJ-12: The True Story Behind the Government's UFO Conspiracies
- UAPs and the Nuclear Puzzle: Visitations, National Security, and the Need for Transparency