Given that we are in the "are we alone" thread, I'll mention that I read a book by Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso called "The Day After Roswell" which was either one of the most important books of the last century or a total crock of shit, depending on how much the reader believes the stunning claims Corso makes, which, if true, directly influenced the technical explosion of the last 60 or so years.
In a nutshell, Corso stated that there was definitely a crash of an ET spacecraft at Roswell, that vehicle was recovered and moved to a secure location for study and that he was the guy in charge of the program to reverse engineer it based on his similar work doing the same with Soviet MIGs. As a result of years of work, his team was able to develop fibre optics, lasers, integrated circuit chips, Kevlar and Stealth technology. Interestingly, these discoveries were, according to Corso, fed through the Government to military/industrial complex partners such as Bell Labs, Lockheed Martin, IBM and others and eventually found their way into the marketplace and helped create the digital revolution (among other things).
There is some contention over these claims, but Corso's credentials and the level of detail he provides is plausible compelling evidence. For instance, he claimed that the key to the circuit chip was in discovering that silicon could be used, something he claimed nobody had ever thought to try prior to examining the crashed vehicle. I read it 15 years ago, so that's how I remember it. I might have some details a little screwy.
I loved the book and don't hesitate to recommend it. I tend to believe that the man is legit.