Stanton T. Friedman

Stanton Terry Friedman (July 29, 1934 – May 13, 2019) was an American–Canadian nuclear physicist and professional ufologist who was based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Early life

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Friedman was raised in nearby Linden and graduated from Linden High School in 1951; he attended Rutgers University and then transferred to the University of Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Science in 1955 and a master's degree in nuclear physics in 1956.

Career in nuclear physics

Friedman was employed for 14 years as a nuclear physicist for such companies as General Electric (1956–1959), Aerojet General Nucleonics (1959–1963), General Motors (1963–1966), Westinghouse (1966–1968), TRW Systems (1969–1970), and McDonnell Douglas, where he worked on advanced, classified programs on nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets, and compact nuclear power plants for space applications. He also provided written testimony to Congressional hearings and appeared twice at the United Nations.

Friedman consistently favored use of the term "flying saucer" in his work, saying "Flying saucers are, by definition, unidentified flying objects, but very few unidentified flying objects are flying saucers. I am interested in the latter, not the former." and supported the hypothesis that it was a genuine crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. In 1968 Friedman told a committee of the United States House of Representatives that the evidence suggests that Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled extraterrestrial vehicles. Friedman also stated he believed that UFO sightings were consistent with magnetohydrodynamic propulsion.

In 1996, after researching and fact checking the Majestic 12 documents, Friedman said that there was no substantive grounds for dismissing their authenticity.

In 2004, on George Noory's Coast to Coast radio show, Friedman debated Seth Shostak, the SETI Institute's Senior Astronomer. Like Friedman, Shostak also believes in the existence of intelligent life other than humans; however, unlike Friedman, he does not believe such life is now on Earth or is related to UFO sightings.

Friedman hypothesized that UFOs may originate from relatively nearby sunlike stars. with Friedman and others defending the statistical validity of the match.

SETI

Friedman stated strong views against search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) research. Friedman contested the implicit premise of SETI that there has been no extraterrestrial visitation of the planet, because it was his claim that SETI was seeking only signals, not extraterrestrial intelligence or beings. He maintained that the prominence and widespread public claims of those involved with SETI have tended to prevent serious research of UFOs, including research by journalists. He addressed criticisms of the original documents in both sources. As an example, Philip J. Klass claimed lexicographic inconsistencies based on the use of Pica typeface in the Cutler-Twining memo and offered $100, in a challenge to Friedman, for each legitimate example of the use of the same style and size Pica type as used in the memo. Friedman provided 14 examples and was paid $1000 by Klass. with whom he adopted three children, but they divorced in April 1974. He had one daughter with his second wife, Stella Marilyn Kimball (1935–2024). Friedman relocated to Marilyn's native Fredericton, New Brunswick in the early 1980s. Friedman donated his records to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick in the months leading up to his death.

On May 13, 2019, Friedman died of a heart attack at the Toronto Pearson Airport while traveling home from a speaking engagement in Columbus, Ohio.

Media

Books

Flying Saucers & Science, June 2008, 320P.
Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. Co-author Kathleen Marden. Career Press / New Page Books, 2007.
Top Secret/MAJIC, Marlowe & Co. 1997. 272 pages,
Crash at Corona: The Definitive Story of The Roswell Incident. Co-author Don Berliner, 1997.
Science was Wrong: Startling truths about cures, theories, and inventions "They" declared impossible. Co-author Kathleen Marden. Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books. 2010.
Fact, Fiction, and Flying Saucers. Co-author Kathleen Marden. Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books. 2016.

Visual media

UFOs: Stanton Friedman's revelation – (video) An interview with Stanton Friedman.
Flying Saucers Are Real – VHS (1996), Vol. 1 – 84 minutes, Vol. 2 – 75 minutes (159 minutes total). Filmed at Kennedy Space Center.
UFO Secret MJ-12 – DVD (2006), 2 discs, 151 minutes. Stan Friedman's 2003 lecture at Aztec, New Mexico on Roswell and MJ-12.
Recollections of Roswell – DVD, 105 minutes
Are Flying Saucers Real? – VHS. Informal Debate. Middle Tennessee State University, January 2004. Includes Q & no As.
UFOs Are Real – VHS (1979), 92 minutes
Flying Saucers And Science - Science Was Wrong - IPC APEX EXPO, 2015