Edward Condon
Dr. Edward U. Condon was an American physicist and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who served as director of the US Air Force-funded Condon Committee (1966–1968), the final official governmental UFO investigation before the termination of Project Blue Book. Condon's work on the committee is widely criticized in UAP research as the capstone of an institutionalized effort to discredit UFO study, both because internal documents show predetermined dismissive conclusions and because his report's summary contradicted the underlying case analyses. The Condon Report he produced in 1969 became the public and scientific foundation for the modern UFO Stigma.
| Role | Physicist; Director of the Condon Committee |
|---|
Selection and Mandate
Condon was selected by the Air Force in the summer of 1966 to lead an independent scientific study of UFOs after Congress held its first closed hearing on UFOs and both Dr. J. Allen Hynek and physicist James McDonald — the two most credible voices calling for serious investigation — were explicitly denied seats on the panel. Condon was well-regarded in the scientific establishment and had experience navigating politically sensitive investigations through his work on the House Un-American Activities Committee. The Air Force paid him $313,000 for the study.
Predetermined Bias
Before the Condon Committee produced any findings, its second-in-command Robert J. Low wrote an internal memo to University of Colorado administrators outlining a strategy to make the project "appear a totally objective study" while communicating to the scientific community that the researchers were "non-believers trying their best to be objective." The memo explicitly recommended focusing on "the psychology and sociology of persons and groups who report seeing UFOs" rather than on physical evidence.
In late 1967, Condon stated publicly at a lecture that the government should not study UFOs because the subject matter was "nonsense" — and then added, notably, "but I'm not supposed to reach that conclusion for another year." This statement, made while he was under contract to investigate UFOs, was treated in UAP research as a direct admission of predetermined conclusions. James McDonald made Low's memo public in 1967; Condon dismissed the controversy.
The Condon Report
The Condon Committee's final report (January 1969) concluded that "nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge" and recommended the Air Force terminate all UFO investigation programs. Both Hynek and McDonald publicly criticized the report as inadequate, stating the committee had ignored key evidence and failed to address the 25–30% of cases it examined that remained unexplained. Condon's summary section contradicted the body of the report's case analyses, which acknowledged genuinely anomalous phenomena.
The report received near-universal praise from major scientific institutions and the mainstream press, effectively closing off serious UFO research within academia and government for decades. Project Blue Book was terminated in December 1969, largely on the basis of the Condon Report's recommendations.