SUBJECT: UFOs and the Limits of Science                      FILE: UFO2715


                                                                            
 by Ronald D. Story c.1981 
     
    Reproduced for educational purposes 
     
    Perhaps the most ingenious of all, the original Hollow Earth Theory was 
    advanced  by several writers in the nineteenth century,  but was  later 
    linked to UFOs and popularized by Ray Palmer and Dr.  Raymond  Bernard. 
    In  the early 1960s,  Bernard claimed that Earth was actually a  hollow 
    sphere,   with  two  openings at the poles,  and  that  flying  saucers 
    belonged  to  a secret civilizations living inside Earth.   The  theory 
    supposedly gained support from observations made during Admiral Richard 
    E,  Byrd's arctic and antarctic expeditions. However,  Dr.  Laurence M. 
    Gould,   a  distinguished University of Arizona geologist and second in 
    command during the late admiral's first antartic expedition, denies any 
    such observations or discoveries. He recently informed my associate, J. 
    Richard  Greenwall,   that  he discussed the matter with  Admiral  Byrd 
    several  times  prior  to the admiral's death in 1957,  and  both  were 
    amazed at the observations attributed to them. When he was president of 
    the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1953, 
    Dr.  Gould considered but finally declined an invitation to address the 
    Hollow Earth Society, then meeting in Tucson, and believes that, had he 
    accepted  the invitation,  it would have been promoted endlessly as  an 
    endorsement of the Hollow Earth Theory. 
     
    The Hollow Earth Theory was examined in 1970  by Dr.  John S.  Derr,  a 
    professional  seismologist,   then working on the  Viking  Mars  lander 
    project  with  Martin  Marrieta  Corporation  and  now  with  the  U.S. 
    Geological  Survey.  Dr.  Derr discussed several types of geodetic  and 
    seismological  data which clearly demonstrated that Earth is not,   and 
    cannot be,  hollow.  Artificial satellite perturbations,  for  example, 
    show  not  only  that  Earth  is solid,  but  also  that  its  mass  is 
    concentrated toward its center, contrary to the idea "predicted" by the 
    Hollow  Earth Theory.  He also presented seismological data  concerning 
    the  free oscillations of Earth and the velocity of  compressional  and 
    shear waves in earth following earthquakes. 
     
    Dr.   Derr's analysis,  plus other less sophisticated but more  obvious 
    evidence  (such as the fact that numerous U.S.  and Soviet  satellites, 
    which  continually  fly  over  the poles,  have  not  photographed  any 
    openings)   leaves little doubt that UFOs,  whatever they are,  do  not 
    originate from a civilization in a hollow Earth. 




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