Los Alamos: Kaplan on green fireballs
Joseph Kaplan replied to Gen. Cabell about his Los Alamos visit, delaying report to assess green fireball sightings. He suggested instrumented monitoring despite suspecting auroral cause.
Background
Background
On July 13, 1949, Joseph Kaplan replied to a letter of July 1 from Gen. Charles P. Cabell. Cabell had asked about Kaplan's visit in April to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Kaplan had deliberately waited two months in order to digest the impressions of the local observers.
Details of the Correspondence
Kaplan mentioned continuing reports of green fireballs. Norris Bradbury, director of the Los Alamos laboratory, called for a secret scientific conference. Kaplan held them to be an auroral phenomenon, but conceded that their horizontal movement and southerly position were difficult to explain. He proposed patrols with photography and spectrography.
Significance
This exchange points to military and scientific concern about phenomena near sensitive nuclear installations. It connects to earlier sightings from 1948 onward and influenced later initiatives such as Project Twinkle.