Although there is no concrete scientific evidence of aliens, a physics professor and ex-NASA scientist believes that the truth is out there and scientists should study it.
Why Should We Scientifically Study UFOs?
On June 28, a former NASA scientist published an article calling for the scientific community to thoroughly examine evidence of UFOs on Earth. The article was published just a few days before July 2, which is World UFO Day.
Kevin Knuth, a physics professor at the State University of New York at Albany, describes two personal stories about the speculation of extraterrestrials. The first came at a 2002 NASA conference.
"You have absolutely no idea what is out there!" a participant said.
The second story occurred when Knuth was a graduate student in 1988. When his physics professor said that UFOs were shooting down nuclear missiles from the Air Force, Knuth didn't believe it. Years later, he saw a recording of a press conference with Air Force officials describing occurrences just like that.
Dealing With Alien Skeptics
Knuth believes that there is a good chance there are aliens and there is some evidence to support this theory. He estimates that there could potentially be as many as tens of thousands of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy.
Despite the age of the galaxy, there is largely no disputed evidence of an encounter with UFOs. Knuth is convinced that this information has been covered up by many governments and that there are enough pieces of evidence that should open a scientific study.
He says that the topic of UFOs is considered taboo in the scientific community, with many organizations finding excuses for various UFO sightings. For example, there are times when the weather or human activities are excuses for aliens sightings. The result is that UFOs are largely not included as a possibility for scientific study and discussions.
"I think UFO skepticism has become something of a religion with an agenda, discounting the possibility of extraterrestrials without scientific evidence, while often providing silly hypotheses describing only one or two aspects of a UFO encounter reinforcing the popular belief that there is a conspiracy," Knuth wrote in The Conversation.
He also said that the skeptics "often do science a disservice" because scientists need to consider all possible outcomes that explain data.
Declassified Past UFO Cases
Knuth says there have been documented cases of UFO sightings, including through telescopes. He said that sightings go all the way back to the 1700s. In 2017, the Chilean government released footage of a UFO.
He also said that numerous countries have declassified UFO files, including Canada, France, Ecuador, and the United Kingdom. There are cases where the United States even funded alien probes, but some findings have not been declassified yet. Knuth argues that these cases should encourage scientific research.
"While there is no single case for which there exists evidence that would stand up to scientific rigor, there are cases with simultaneous observations by multiple reliable witnesses, along with radar returns and photographic evidence revealing patterns of activity that are compelling," he wrote.
