On the evening of July 19 , 1952 , a freaky incident occurred in the skies over Washington , D.C. , that would last into the former morn hours of July 20 .
Air traffic comptroller look on as objectsmaterialized on their radar screensandflew overthe White House and the Capitol — air space that was restricted . “ It was very fickle . It went left and right , ” one of the air dealings controllerswould later say . “ We knew it was n’t an airplane , because a plane fly in one counsel . But it was a potent sign , just like an aeroplane . ” A Capital Airlines pilot film describe seeing six fast - move brightness that had “ no tail , no recognizable soma … just bright lights against a dingy sky ” over the course of 14 minute . Air Force radio detection and ranging also picked up the object , whatever they were , but they vanished just as fast as they were spotted . throw together jets sent to investigatefound nothing .
At that period , UFOs were a hot subject in the U.S. , thanks in part to an article that had appeared in an April 1952 issue ofLIFEmagazine called “ Have We visitant From Space ? ” What was happening in D.C. would establish to be “ the climax of the 1952 flap , ” Curtis PeebleswroteinWatch the Skies ! : A Chronicle of the UFO Myth , and kick flying dish antenna obsession into mellow gear . “Unidentified fly objects exploded into the public knowingness then , ” Mark Rodeghier , scientific theatre director for the Center for UFO Studies , toldThe New York Timesin 2018 . “ There was concern in a style you had n’t seen before . ”
The press go wild . “ SAUCERS SWARM OVER CAPITAL , ” screamed just one newspaper headline about the incident , which made tidings around the state — and the world .
Perhaps these headlines were what exalt evangelistic rector Reverend Louis A. Gardner to write physicistAlbert Einsteinasking for hisopinion on fly saucers . Did he believesaucers came from quad — specifically Mars or Venus , Gardner wondered ? Or were UFOssome sort of military technologyexperiments created by the U.S. Air Force … or America ’s enemy ?
At this point in his calling , Einstein was one of themost famous scientistsin the world . He ’d released histheory of general relativity , nabbed the Nobel Prize for Physics , speak out against racismin America , and urged former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt to pursue nuclear enquiry , influencing the creation of the Manhattan Project ( a fact he wouldcome to rue ) . And he was still performing research at Princeton University ’s Institute for Advanced Study , even though he hadtechnically retiredin 1945 .
Einstein was famous , and in use — so one could have forgiven him for if he had pick out not to reply to Gardner ’s question . But he did respond , on July 23 , 1952 , writing on letterhead from the Institute for Advanced Study .
“ Dear Sir , ” Einstein drop a line . “ Those people have seensomething . What it is I do not screw and am not curious to roll in the hay . sincerely yours yours , Albert Einstein . ”
It ’s an interesting response from a man who typically championed curiosity . “ The important thing is not to stop questioning . Curiosity has its own reason for existing,”he once said . In fact , just a few months before Gardner write to him , Einstein enjoin his biographer , “ I have no special gift . I am only passionately curious . ”
Whatever his rationality for not being curious about what , exactly , people were seeing in the skies across America , Einstein ’s compact response to Gardner made intelligence around the U.S. ( Some of the tale even featured photos of a lightheaded Gardner holding the letter . ) “ Saucers not Einstein ’s knockout , ” one paperpunnily headlineda piece about the missive . “ singular About Sky Disks ? Not ‘ The Brain , ’ ” register another .
Also making the news ? More UFOs over D.C. , which appeared in the sky on July 26 and 27 . Radar spotted as many as 14 objects in the sky . One sergeant at Andrews Air Force Base take care “ a bluish white light move … at an incredible rate of velocity . … These Light Within did not have the characteristic of scud whizz . There was no trails and [ they ] seemed to go out rather than disappear , and locomote quicker than any shooting lead I have ever seen . ”
The Air Force received a phonograph record - breaking500 reportsof UFO that month . Theydeniedthat what had been attend was any craft of theirs , and at long last blamed what had happened ( which would descend to be know as “ the Washington Invasion”)on the weatherand meteors — but rightful believer , and those who hadseen the phenomena themselves , were n’t convinced .
