Stanton T. Friedman

Stanton T. Friedman (1934–2019) was a Canadian-American nuclear physicist who worked on classified nuclear-propulsion projects for companies including General Electric and Westinghouse before devoting himself full-time to UFO research from 1970 onwards. In 1978 he became the first civilian to interview Jesse Marcel about Roswell, effectively reigniting the case — a step that would turn Roswell into the central reference point of American ufology for decades to come. His scientific biography lent the field a credibility it had previously enjoyed only in rare exceptions.

• Nuclear physicist with work on classified nuclear-propulsion projects (including General Electric and Westinghouse)
• Transition to full-time UFO research from 1970
• First civilian to interview Jesse Marcel about Roswell in 1978, effectively reigniting the case
• One of the most influential figures in ufology
• Author of numerous books on UAP topics
• Lectured at more than 600 universities
• Life-long advocate of government disclosure — his "cosmic Watergate" formula shaped the debate

Friedman's significance for the timeline is two-fold: with the 1978 Marcel interview he reanimated the Roswell case and, with it, the key narrative of American ufology; and through his scientific background he gave the field a public seriousness that purely civilian researchers could not have created. Without his decades of university lectures the topic would hardly ever have reached the edges of academia.