Opinions Among Scientists
The scientific community has shown very little support for the ETH, and has largely accepted the explanation that reports of UFOs are the result of people misinterpreting common objects or phenomena, or are the work of hoaxers.
A cited example of this was an informal poll conducted in 1977 by astrophysicist Peter A. Sturrock, surveying the members of the American Astronomical Society. Sturrock asked polled scientists to assign probabilities to eight possible explanations for UFOs. The results were:
| 23% | An unfamiliar natural phenomenon |
| 22% | A familiar phenomenon or device |
| 21% | An unfamiliar terrestrial device |
| 12% | Hoax |
| 9% | An unknown natural phenomenon |
| 7% | Some specifiable other cause |
| 3% | An alien device |
| 3% | Some unspecified other cause |
An earlier poll done by Sturrock in 1973 of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics members found that a somewhat higher 10% believed UFOs were vehicles from outer space.
Read more about this topic: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis
Famous quotes containing the words opinions and/or scientists:
“All opinions in the world agree in this, that pleasure is our end, although they differ as to the means of attaining it.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Suppose that humans happen to be so constructed that they desire the opportunity for freely undertaken productive work. Suppose that they want to be free from the meddling of technocrats and commissars, bankers and tycoons, mad bombers who engage in psychological tests of will with peasants defending their homes, behavioral scientists who can’t tell a pigeon from a poet, or anyone else who tries to wish freedom and dignity out of existence or beat them into oblivion.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)