Monday, March 20, 2023

Catalog/database, and analysis, of pre-1947 "UFO-like phenomena" - report by Dr Louis Winkler, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University (1982-1984)

Dr Winkler prepared an 86-page report entitled "Analysis of UFO-Like Data before 1947" for the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR) in 1982-1984. (FUFOR was one of several UFO groups that subsequently received funding from Robert Bigelow).

Dr Louis Winkler was an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University. He was listed as a noteworthy Astronomy educator by Marquis Who's Who.

Dr Winkler passed away in 2001. Rob Swiatek of FUFOR kindly indicated to me that he does not see a problem with my uploading a copy of that report, which I have now done.

The abstract for that report states the following:

"A catalog of several hundred descriptions of ufo-like phenomen~ occurring before 1947 has been constructed. Entry headings include time and place of occurrence, classification, and sources for the data. One portion of the catalog consists of chronological data from varied sources while another portion consists of data grouped by ufologists. The luminous atmospheric· phenomenon class and Martian accounts allow some definitive conclusions which appear under separate cover as PART II of this report".



The "Conclusions" section includes the following:

"An analysis of early ufo-like data has advantages compared to the analysis of modern data because it comes from a simpler technological era and covers a much longer time period. For the study here, the most revealing statistic of the report is the date of occurrence. The first two dated accounts occur in Aug of the years 1015 and 1133, and are associated with the onset of: the meteor shower season.

...

Laps, like magnetic storms .and auroras are geomagnetic phenomena that are linked to cometary streams. The streams originate in twelve, short-period comets whose orbits pass through the plane of the ecliptic within or near earth's orbit. Laps and storms have similar statistical correlations, while laps and auroras are often seen simultaneously. They occur when earth encounters a solar-comet mixture embedded in a stream during a shower or when the sun sprays the mixture into earth's path. The mixture is apparently entrained by the geomagnetic tail and is transported into the geomagnetosphere.

...

There is no compelling evidence that any of the accounts of the catalog are due to extra-terrestrial intelligence. However, the extra-terrestrial intelligence hypothesis is adopted by many to suit a need in their life. An examination of post 1947 data in the light of solar-comet mixtures will probably further develop the scenario offered here. The most challenging problem remaining is to explain the evolution of the mixture in the geomagnetosphere".





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