Howard P. Robertson

Howard Percy Robertson (1903-1961) was an American theoretical physicist and mathematician from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He chaired the Robertson Panel in January 1953, a CIA-convened scientific committee that reviewed U.S. Air Force UFO files amid a 1952 wave of sightings, including Washington, D.C. incidents. The panel, including experts like Luis Alvarez and Samuel Goudsmit, examined cases from Project Blue Book and recommended reducing public concern over UFOs, promoting educational efforts to explain sightings as misidentifications, and monitoring civilian groups. This influenced the de-emphasis of UFO investigations in government programs. Robertson also directed the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (1950-1952), chaired the Defense Science Board (1956-1961), and served on the President's Science Advisory Committee (1957-1961). His cosmological work includes the Robertson-Walker metric. The panel's report, known as the Durant Report, shaped U.S. policy for decades.