UFOlogy

A standard definition of science is the study of the physical universe. As indisputably legitimate sciences, such as physics and astrophysics, have become more complex, scientific views on life and the universe have grown more complex, especially for the nonexpert. Findings, claims, and theories relating to the physical universe now encompass concepts of phenomena that may only be indirectly observed, at best—for example, dark matter and dark energy, parallel universes and “multi-verses,” and “weird life” that may be nothing like terrestrial life. In the current environment, it can be difficult for nonscientists and scientists alike to determine where legitimate science ends and pseu-doscience begins and how controversial claims may be evaluated.

UFOlogy is alleged by self-described UFOlogists to consist of the scientific study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The scientific community by and large does not accept UFOlogy as science. Researchers and journalists are advised to evaluate their sources and their sources' claims very carefully in the case of UFOlogy.

For scholars, UFOlogy is an interesting case to examine for purposes of studying the social construction of cultural authority and scientific legitimacy. Arguably, UFOlogists have not succeeded in establishing their chosen field of study as science and their methods of study as scientific. Scholars interested in understanding UFOlogy as a social phenomenon might well rely on the literature on scientific authority—what it is, where it comes from, and how it is used and to what ends—in their analyses.

For journalists, UFOlogy requires considerable critical scrutiny. The traditional news value of sensationalism and the standard journalistic practice of focusing on outliers, underdogs, and “news of the weird” virtually ensure that UFOlogy will continue to generate mass media coverage. As a partial counterbalance, journalists interested in the topic would do well to subject their sources and their claims in this area to the most intensive background research, fact-checking, and verification.

That the study of UFOs has come to be known as an “-ology” at all is but one small aspect of ongoing efforts to legitimize this field of interest as science. A standard tactic of “fringe” scientists such as UFOlogists is to accumulate the trappings of conventional scientific legitimacy, such as advanced degrees, peer-reviewed journals, and professional societies sponsoring annual meetings.

One strategy that UFOlogists employ to establish their chosen field of study as a legitimate research subject and themselves as legitimate researchers is to describe UFOs as phenomena in the natural world, thus locating them within the boundaries of legitimate science. UFOlogists have adopted the standard scientific methods of observation, data collection, record keeping, and reporting. They also lean on an archive of official records for validation, given that the U.S. Air Force and other U.S. and non-US. government entities have studied the claims of UFO sightings from time to time, largely in the second half of the 20th century. Astronomer J. Allen Hynek [Page 918](who died in 1986) played a role in producing some official U.S. records on UFOs. With a doctoral degree in a legitimate science and a professorship at Northwestern University, he served as a consultant to the U.S. Air Force for its UFO studies in the 1960s and also testified to Congress on the subject.

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