The Flying Saucer Physicist

Dr. Stanton Friedman was a nuclear physicist who worked on classified projects for companies including General Electric, Westinghouse, and General Motors before devoting the second half of his career entirely to UFO research. He was the first civilian investigator to interview Jesse Marcel about Roswell in 1978, effectively relaunching public interest in the case.

Friedman was the original investigator who located and interviewed witnesses to the MJ-12 documents — alleged classified government papers about a secret committee managing recovered craft — and spent decades arguing for their authenticity against fierce opposition. He lectured at hundreds of universities and appeared on thousands of radio and TV programmes.

A Forensic Approach

Friedman distinguished himself by applying scientific rigour to his investigations — examining government documents, cross-referencing witness testimony, and demanding primary evidence. He coined the phrase "Cosmic Watergate" to describe the government's cover-up of recovered craft. He died in 2019, regarded as the foremost investigative researcher in the history of the field.