Case file · Non-fiction & research literature
Menzel, 'Flying Saucers'
The first major skeptical book on UFOs, by Harvard astrophysicist Donald Menzel.
1953 CE · 42.38, -71.13 · status: explained
The account
Menzel, a distinguished solar astronomer, argued that saucers were mirages, reflections, temperature inversions and other optical effects, and wrote two further debunking books. He set the template for scientific skepticism about UFOs.
The sceptical view
Proponents, notably James McDonald, argued that Menzel forced optical explanations onto cases that did not fit them.
Connections in the atlas
- Flying Saucers
- Donald Menzel