Word: menzel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...they are not what you think they are in "Flying Saucers," a book just published by the University Press, Donald H. Menzel, professor of Astrophysics, shows that saucers have been seen throughout history, and that they are in almost every case illusions produced either by the unique optical properties of the earth's atmosphere or by familiar objects that have been wafted high in the skies by air currents...
...Many of them have proved to be extraneous objects like newspapers, balloons, or distant airplanes," Menzel writes. "Others have been searchlight or automobile-headlight reflections on a thin layer of could or haze. The most puzzling and frightening of all saucer phenomena are those that have come from reflections and refractions from drops of water, ice crystals, or even from the air itself. Thus, all reports of saucers, those from the air or ground, those seen at night or during the day, those detected visually or by radar, result from unusual or unfamiliar conditions in the atmosphere...
Among these "unusual conditions," Menzel includes effects caused by aurora borealis, which occur when the air is ionized by radio-active particles coming to earth from explosions on the sun. Aside from atmospheric effects, he finds, "saucers" can be caused even by particles of dust on the observer's face...
People have not imagined that they have seen saucers in the last five years. They did see strange shapes in the sky, and their immediate reaction was that the shapes were space ships from another planet. "Why", Menzel asks, "have so many civilized people chosen to adopt such an uncivilized attitude toward the flying saucers?" He presents three reasons...
...accordance with the Corporation's decision. Provost Buck recently sent memoranda to acting director of the observatories Donald H. Menzel and members of the Observatory Council...