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Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (b. Zofingen, Aargau, Switzerland, April 14, 1935) is a controversial Swiss author best known for his books about extraterrestrial influence on human culture since prehistoric times. He is one of the key figures responsible for popularizing the paleocontact and ancient astronaut theories. There were numerous forerunners to von Däniken in the field but he is the best-known and has sold the most books about these theories. Von Däniken is a co-founder of the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (AAS RA). He has developed a theme park called Mystery Park in Interlaken, Switzerland. It opened May 23, 2003 and is supposed to close in November 2006. A new science fiction television series based upon his books is under production.
Claims of alien influence on Earth Building on previous works by other authors (including Italian Peter Kolosimo, who was later critical of von Däniken), von Däniken claimed that if intelligent extraterrestrial life exists and has entered the local Solar System in the past, then there is the possibility of finding traces of their visits on Earth, on neighboring planets, or elsewhere in space. He supports the hypothesis that human evolution may have been manipulated by means of genetic engineering by extraterrestrial beings. His 26 books have been translated into more than 20 languages, selling more than 60 million copies worldwide, and his documentary TV-shows have been viewed in Germany and the United States. His influence can also be seen in science fiction, the New Age culture and some modern religions. The evidence von Däniken has put forward to support the paleo-contact theories can be categorised as follows: Criticism The scientific community has almost universally dismissed von Däniken's theories. Scientists such as Carl Sagan and I. S. Shklovskii, however, have written about paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitations to earth. Sagan did not rule out the possibility of visitation but he insisted that such extraordinary assertions as von Däniken's demand extraordinary proof and that the absence of evidence makes the claims highly unlikely to be true. Most historians regard von Däniken's archaeological claims as pseudoscience, and are of the opinion that he draws far-fetched conclusions from little evidence and disregards more likely alternative hypotheses. But a large group of followers, some of whom have written books of their own, believe that his ideas are likely to be true. Von Däniken claimed a non-rusting iron pillar in India was evidence of extra-terrestrial influence (Chariots...?, p.94). However, he admitted in a Playboy interview (vol.21, no.8, 1974) that the pillar was man-made and that as far as supporting his theories goes "we can forget about this iron thing." Neither von Däniken nor his publishers have removed this, or any other, discredited evidence from subsequent reprints of Chariots of the Gods? or his other books. The scientific community's dismay at von Däniken led to the publication of The Space Gods Revealed by Ronald Story in 1976. It attempts a refutation of the hypotheses and evidence in von Däniken's most famous work—Chariots of the Gods?—almost page by page; although critics savaged that book for misrepresenting and misquoting both von Däniken' and Chariots of the Gods?. Von Däniken has also been accused of racism and Eurocentrism. Though Europe contains many remarkable, large-scale ancient monuments, von Däniken generally does not suggest these were built with extraterrestrial aid. For example, von Däniken "concedes that Europeans could build the complex cathedrals, but refuses to admit equivalent levels of skill and endeavour in the non-European societies." Von Däniken and forgery Von Däniken appeared before a magistrate while still a boy, charged with stealing money from the Boy Scouts. In the early 1960s, in his mid-20s, he was convicted of defrauding the hotel where he worked and petty theft, for which he was fined. In 1967, at the age of 32, von Däniken was convicted of large scale embezzlement, forgery and tax evasion, and spent three and a half years in prison. During his time in prison he wrote his second book, Gods from Outer Space (published in 1970). Von Däniken denies any accusation of wrongdoing. He claims, for example, that the conviction leading to his imprisonment was the result of a conspiracy against him by members of the Catholic hierarchy in Switzerland, intended to discredit his theories. Von Däniken has also used photographs of pottery depicting UFOs, claiming that the pottery came from an archaeological dig and dated to biblical times. The television series Nova determined that this was a fraud and located the potter who actually made those pots. When confronted with this evidence, von Däniken argued that the deception was justified because some people would only believe his theories if they saw proof. He has been accused of fabricating the Dropa stones controversy. Von Däniken claims to have originally been told the story of the Dropas in 1968 by Soviet science fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev. Kazantsev claims it was von Däniken who told him the story.* Mainstream critics consider the Dropa Stones to be a hoax. See also Works | ||||||||
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