Robert Low

Project Coordinator of the Condon Committee

Robert Low served as assistant dean of the University of Colorado's graduate program and, more significantly, as project coordinator of the University of Colorado UFO Project (commonly known as the Condon Committee). Launched in October 1966 under physicist Dr. Edward Condon's directorship, this $313,000 Air Force-funded investigation represented the most ambitious scientific study of unidentified flying objects ever undertaken in the United States. Over its two-year duration, the project examined 87 UFO cases, interviewed witnesses, reviewed data from multiple government sources, and conducted laboratory experiments. As project coordinator, Low held responsibility for day-to-day administration, budget allocation, investigative strategy, and preliminary analysis of cases—essentially managing the institutional machinery that would shape the final report.

The Controversial Memo

Low's historical significance rests primarily on an internal memorandum he wrote on August 9, 1966, before any cases had been investigated. In this memo, Low reassured two University of Colorado administrators that the study could be structured to appear scientifically objective while actually reaching a predetermined negative conclusion about UFOs. His language was remarkably candid: "Our study would be conducted almost entirely by non-believers who, though they couldn't possibly prove a negative result, could and probably would add an impressive body of thick evidence that there is no reality to the observations." More explicitly, he outlined a strategic approach: "The trick would be, I think, to describe the project so that, to the public, it would appear a totally objective study, but to the scientific community would present the image of a group of non-believers trying their best to be objective but having an almost zero expectation of finding a saucer."

The memo remained confidential until physicist James E. McDonald became aware of it in July 1967. McDonald, himself a prominent UFO researcher and critic of official dismissiveness, recognized the memo as evidence that institutional bias had infected the investigation from the outset. He shared this finding with other researchers, and the "Low memo" (also known as the "trick memo") became a landmark document in UFO historiography—cited repeatedly as proof that major scientific investigations into UFOs were compromised by predetermined skepticism.

The Report and Its Aftermath

The Condon Report, officially titled Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, was released in January 1969. Despite Low's strategic framing, the investigation's own data complicated its conclusions. Of the 87 cases examined, 30% remained categorized as "unidentified"—meaning even the non-believers could not explain them. Nevertheless, Condon's executive summary dismissed UFO reports as insignificant and not worthy of further scientific study. The report's release precipitated the termination of Project Blue Book in December 1969, effectively closing the Air Force's official UFO investigation. For decades after, the Condon Report was cited by mainstream science as the authoritative negative conclusion on UFOs.

Low's memo crystallized a central tension in UFO discourse: the difference between scientific objectivity (examining evidence without preconceived conclusions) and scientific credibility (maintaining an appearance of rigor while signaling one's institutional position to peers). The revelation suggested that major governmental scientific efforts could be designed to manage public perception and professional consensus rather than pursue truth.

Legacy and Death

Low's subsequent career trajectory and the circumstances of his death remain less documented than his role in the Condon investigation. He died in an aircraft accident, the specifics of which are not widely recorded in UFO literature. Nevertheless, his name remains synonymous with the Condon Committee's institutional failures and with a broader pattern that critics identify: the systematic dismissal of UFO phenomena by scientific establishments constrained by Cold War institutional pressures and professional skepticism.

The Low memo has become required reading for anyone serious about understanding how institutional authority, scientific consensus, and government power shaped the official narrative around UFOs in the modern era.