Stanton Friedman's Work on the Hill Case

Stanton Friedman (1934-2019) was instrumental in convincing reputable scientists to vet Marjorie Fish's (1932-2013) research on Betty Hill's star map. When Stanton first met Marjorie Fish, she was an educator and amateur astronomer living in Ohio. She had read The Interrupted Journey, the first book ever published on the Hills' UFO encounter. (This was published prior to the scientific analysis of the physical evidence.) In the book she viewed a sketch of a star map that Betty believed she had observed during her UFO abduction in 1961. A member of MENSA, Marjorie had the intelligence to skeptically and methodically investigate the stars that were connected by lines, on Betty's hand sketched map. Over a period of several years, she constructed 14 models of our local galactic neighborhood out 54 LY based on the latest distance data and star characteristics available in astronomical catalogues at the university. But she could not find a close match for Betty's sketch. Finally, our scientists made technological progress, and she found updated distance data in a new astronomical catalogue. She rearranged the stars in her models according to the more accurate distance data and found a match. This was extraordinary! She now needed astronomers and other scientists who were willing to vet her work for accuracy. This is when Stanton Friedman stepped in. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr. Walter Mitchell, and Dr. David Saunders vetted Marjorie's work. By this time, Marjorie was working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. She worked as a researcher for the US Department of Energy for over 20 years. 

Stanton Friedman Advances the Investigation of Marjorie Fish's Work on Betty Hill's Star Map

© Kathleen Marden 2025

Who was Stanton T. Friedman, MSc.?     

     Stanton Terry Friedman graduated first in his high school class at age sixteen. He went to  Rutgers University on an academic scholarship and then moved on to the University of Chicago where he earned Bachelor’s (1955) and Master’s (1956) degrees. After he was awarded a Master of Science degree in Physical Science, he made the decision to forgo his doctorate because he wanted to begin a professional career as a nuclear scientist. He found employment at the General Electric Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Department in Evandale, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati, and worked on developing shielding for a nuclear reactor that was intended to power nuclear airplanes. From 1956 - 1959 he was a senior project engineer.

During his fourteen year career as a nuclear physicist, he was employed as a nuclear physicist at GE, GM, Westinghouse, TRW Systems, Aerojet Nucleonics, and McDonnell Douglas, working on highly advanced, classified, programs on the development of nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets, and compact nuclear powerplants for space and terrestrial applications. Each federal contract was cancelled after a period of approximately three years, and Stanton moved to another company to continue his work. He held a Q-Level clearance from the US Department of Energy, required to access Top Secret Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data, defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. He spoke fondly of his work and was proud of his relationship with the men he eventually supervised. They were a fine honed team who worked cooperatively to complete federally funded projects with strict deadlines under security. 

     Initially, Stanton was skeptical of the scientific value of UFO investigation, but in 1958 he read The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects by Edward J. Ruppelt, chief of the United States Air Force’s Project Grudge and  Project Blue Book. The information contained in Ruppelt's book caused Stanton to realize that the UFO evidence commanded further investigation. It was being taken seriously at the highest levels of the military forces and by government scientists. Stanton was so intrigued by Ruppelt’s book that he joined the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), to read their monthly newsletters, which were shipped to his home. The information contained within the newsletters was captivating to Stanton, a true scientist who was intrigued by the USAF's statistical studies on UFOs. He was equally impressed by Project Blue Book Special Report No.14, which he found at the University of California’s library in Berkeley.

     Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14, Analysis of Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects, was published on May 5, 1955. It is the largest study scientific study of UFOs ever conducted by the US Air Force. 3201 UFO sightings were evaluated by professional scientists and engineers, at the prestigious Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. As with a study mentioned in Captain Ruppelt’s book, the aerial objects were divided into various categories: Balloon 14%, Astronomical 25.5%, Aircraft 20.1%, Miscellaneous 8%, Psychological 1.5%, Insufficient Information 9.3%, and UNKNOWN 21.5%. A great deal of attention was focused on the quality of the sighting through a chi square statistical analysis. The excellent cases were labeled as such based on the reliability of the observers and the quality of the sightings. The greater the reliability of the sighting the more likely it was to be listed an UNKNOWN. Among those in the Excellent Quality Group 35.1% were UNKNOWNS, whereas only 3.9% were relegated to the Insufficient Information Group. The probability that the UNKNOWNS were simply missed knowns was less than 1%. 

     Stanton formally entered the UFO research field's community of scientists at a time when respected scientists were evaluating UFO data to determine whether the taboo topic deserved scientific investigation. While working full-time as a nuclear physicist, Stanton and his colleagues formed a UFO investigative group aimed at conducting scientific evaluations of the available evidence. They published their own newsletter and  eventually he discussed his research findings with small groups and on radio shows.  As his popularity grew, Stanton was awarded more opportunities to share his knowledge. When he had appeared on more than a dozen radio and television shows and had delivered lectures titled “Flying Saucers—Fact or Fiction” at Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Illinois, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in New York City, and to other professional and lay organizations, he was beginning to gain momentum. His argued the position that thousands of competent witnesses from around the world have observed nearly identical unconventional craft in the air and on the ground. Certainly, this degree of evidence warranted scientific investigation. 

Stanton becomes a full-time UFO Researcher 

     After spending fourteen successful years in the nuclear development industry and nearing the end of a government contract that would require another difficult family move for his family, he made the decision to embark on a new career. He loved the art of the debate, so he decided to combine this and his professional assets during a time when leading scientists were actively debating the evidence regarding UFOs. Initially, he attracted employment on the college lecture circuit, billing himself as “The Flying Saucer Physicist.”  As he gained popularity among the interested public, he expanded his lectures to the world stage, speaking in 19 foreign countries. Over his career as a scientific ufologist, he lectured at more than 600 colleges and to 100 professional groups.  He published more than 90 UFO papers and appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows. 

Stanton's role in advancing Marjorie Fish's investigation of Betty Hill's star map  

   In 2004 Betty Hill recommended Stanton as a "person who could be trusted" concerning the book I was authoring on my investigation of her UFO abduction. She trusted him because he had vetted Ohio amateur astronomer Marjorie Fish's investigation of a star map that Betty recalled observing while aboard a UFO in 1961. He had initiated a vetting process by astronomers who conducted skeptical analyses on Marjorie's work. They concluded that her work was accurate, and the stars on Betty's map, connected by lines, had special properties that were more than just coincidental. The stars on Betty's map had special properties that could not have been a coincidence. All the pattern stars (connected by lines) on Betty's map are the right kind of stars for planets and life, even though only 5% of the stars in our local galactic neighborhood qualify. All the sunlike stars in this volume of space, taken up by the 3-D model are part of the pattern. All the stars in the pattern made sense and were in a plane making travel within a plane easier and more logical than travel to widely scattered stars that are not in the same plane. It was much more than just a random constellation. Additionally, it took Marjorie many years to find a match, and this was accomplished only after our scientists had made scientific progress on accurate distance data. And no one on this planet knew this in 1961. (For additional information read Stanton's chapters in Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden, updated in 2021.)

     In the following years, several researchers attempted to identify other planets in our solar system or stars in our galaxy that were near matches for the stars on Betty's map. However, no hypothesis survived the rigorous vetting process that Marjorie Fish's research withstood. 

     In 2013, a new star map researcher majoring in astrobiology and astronomy at a major university, contacted Stanton and he copied their correspondence to me. Highly skeptical, she had taken a fresh look at Betty's star map, this time with a focus on exoplanets. She used Hipparcos Catalog data visualization tools of the Celestia Digital Universe to find other possible matches amounting to 2,289 different star models. At the end of her exhaustive study, she discovered that Marjorie Fish's identification remains the closest match of the nearest stars, an 86% fit, and two different stars could be a better choices. She invited Stanton to do an interview for the video project she placed on You Tube, and he was interested. He contacted Terrence Dickinson, the astronomer who, in 1976 authored a research article on Marjorie's research for Astronomy Magazine and later The Zeta Reticuli Incident, an expanded 31 page magazine published again by Astronomy. He replied that he was not interested in continuing this line on research  in a new star map investigation, so Stanton let the issue drop. The student posted an excellent video of her work on You Tube and I copied the link in my 2021 update of Captured!.  Later, I learned that she had removed her well-researched video from the Internet. (This often occurs when reputations are at stake and anti-UFO propagandists locate and threaten researchers. I had not revealed her identity nor shared her personal information but anti-UFO propagandists have a means of finding information that is not available to researchers. 

Stanton's major achievements

     Stanton worked for more than fifty years as a scientific ufologist, archival researcher, international lecturer, on-camera expert, and author. He provided written testimony to congressional hearings and appeared twice at the United Nations. He won many awards for his outstanding work as a scientific ufologist. His major contributions are as follows:

• He convinced several astrophysicists to vet Marjorie Fish’s identification of stars on a map that Betty Hill recalled being shown during her time with an ET presence aboard a UFO in 1961. They confirmed the scientific value of her work and Stanton promoted it in magazine articles, on radio shows, videos, and at conferences.
• He was the first civilian UFO investigator to speak with Major Jesse Marcel and probe the reality of the crash landing of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico.
• He spent years investigating the possibility that MJ 12 was a real committee of high-ranking government officials, scientists, military intelligence officers, and found evidence supporting this claim in a physical archive.
• He sparred with dismissive false information propagandists such as Philip Klass, Dr. Donald Menzel, and other “nasty, noisy negativists” (Stanton's term), who were too smart and well connected to have been ignorant of the confirmatory evidence and the cover-up.

      I am grateful to have called Stanton my mentor, colleague, and friend. He was a brilliant powerhouse for the truth. The world is in a better place because Stanton walked among us proclaiming “flying saucer” reality and poking fun at the “nasty, noisy, negativists,” his favorite term for anti-UFO propagandists.