Ufology, the study of UFOs as crafts of nonhuman origin, has always had a bit of an image problem. The term “UFO” conjures visions of flying saucers and gray aliens. Suggest to scientists that they study UFOs, and they’re likely to burst out laughing. The military has long viewed UFO claims as a distraction from real issues of national security and has avoided discussion of UFOs for decades. What ufologists want more than anything (besides actual proof of extraterrestrials) is for serious people to pay serious attention to them. But a sequence of recent events — most notably, the shooting...