Aliens in the Archives: A Conversation about the History of the UFO Phenomenon

Join the APS’s Center for the History of Science for a Lunch at the Library conversation with historians of science Greg Eghigian and Lois Rosson, as we explore some of the opportunities and challenges of engaging with these unique sets of materials.

In 2019, the American Philosophical Society’s Library & Museum received the papers of two notable ufologists: Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs. Together, these still unprocessed collections document and reflect a broad network of individuals interested in exploring encounters with extraterrestrial life. Their materials also provide an important glimpse into the history and intricacies behind the rise of the UFO phenomenon during the late-20th and early 21st centuries with the potential to contribute to a broad range of research questions and topics in the history of science and beyond.

This event will take place on Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. ET in Benjamin Franklin Hall and will also be livestreamed. This event is free to attend but registration is required.

Greg Eghigian is Professor of History and Bioethics at Penn State University and a former Residential Research Fellow at the APS. He is a historian of science and medicine and has published books and articles about the history of disability, the history of madness, and the history of criminality, among other things. More recently, he has turned his attention to the history of the world’s fascination with unidentified flying objects and aliens. His most recent book is After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon. His next book will examine the history of alien abduction claims.

Lois Rosson is a historian of science and technology based in Los Angeles, where she writes about the visual culture of space science. Her next project examines the history of NASA's search for life in the universe and its reverberations throughout popular culture. She has held the Guggenheim Predoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, and the Octavia E. Butler Fellowship at the Huntington Library. Her work has been supported by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Berggruen Institute, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Southern California, the American Philosophical Society, and the NASA History Office.