Project Magnet: Canada's First Official UFO-Magnetic Research Program
In 1950, Canada launched Project Magnet under radio engineer Wilbert Smith of the Department of Transport, making it one of the earliest official government programs to investigate the potential connection between magnetic phenomena and the UFO phenomenon. Smith saw a direct link between the two and led the project accordingly. In 1952, the volume of incoming reports prompted the Defence Research Board to convene a dedicated follow-up committee called Project Second Story, which exclusively collected, catalogued, and analysed UFO sighting reports.
In 1960, Canada and the United States jointly introduced the Cirvis/Merint reporting system for aerial phenomena. Reports involving phenomena not matching the physical patterns typically observed for fireballs and meteorites were forwarded for investigation to the Canadian Department of National Defence. In October 2007, the Canadian National Archives released approximately 9,500 UFO files covering the years 1947 to 1995, drawn from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Department of National Defence, and the Department of Transport.
Background
Project Magnet was Canada's first official UFO-magnetic research program, established in December 1950 by Wilbert B. Smith, a senior radio engineer at Canada's Department of Transport. With government funding, it investigated the relationship between UFOs and terrestrial magnetism from 1950 to 1954.
Establishment Wilbert B. Smith set up Project Magnet in December 1950 with government funding.
He hypothesized that UFOs might operate using principles related to Earth's magnetic field.
Operation The project operated officially from 1950 to 1954.
It was one of the first government-funded scientific UFO research programs outside the United States.
Parallel Effort Smith also ran Project Second Storey.
This served as an official government committee to evaluate UFO reports.
Findings and Termination Project Magnet's instrumentation detected at least one significant anomaly in 1954.
The project was quietly terminated after that.