Stanton Friedman was a Canadian nuclear physicist and a prominent ufologist, known for his research and advocacy regarding unidentified flying objects (UFOs). He gained fame for his work on the Roswell incident, where he argued that an extraterrestrial spacecraft had crashed in 1947, and that the U.S. government had covered it up. Friedman authored several books and articles on the subject of UFOs and was a frequent speaker at conferences. He was one of the first civilian investigators of the UFO phenomenon and played a significant role in popularizing the idea of extraterrestrial life visiting Earth.