Ralph Rene
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| Ralph Rene | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Self-taught |
| Notable work(s) | World trade Center Lies and Fairytales (self-published) |
Ralph Rene (August 24, 1933 – December 10, 2008) was an American small press publisher and inventor. Rene was a vocal proponent of the Apollo moon landing hoax theory. Rene's death was confirmed via a video on AOL[1]. Rene's last self-published book, on the September 11 attacks, is called World Trade Center Lies and Fairytales. It details his beliefs that the United States Government was behind the events of those tragedies.[2]
Rene was a prominent conspiracy theorist and had been featured frequently in shows produced by The History Channel, National Geographic, Fox TV and Showtime that discuss the viability of such a hoax and/or government conspiracies. In one such show,The Truth Behind the Moon Landing, NASA writer James Oberg referred to Rene and other Moon Landing Hoax proponents as cultural vandals.[3] Rene reacted onscreen with amusement and stated that he liked the characterization. Rene was also featured in a Season 3 episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit! covering conspiracy theories.[4] Rene was introduced as a physicist on the 2001 FOX documentary, Did We Land On The Moon?,[5] and had the designation 'Author/Scientist' under his picture. However, Rene admitted in his biography that he did not hold a degree from any university[6] and always referred to himself as "self-taught".
Contents |
[edit] Apollo moon landing
His 1992 self-published book, NASA Mooned America! details why he feels that the Apollo moon landings were faked and actually produced from a closed studio.
Some of his main arguments are that:
- Astronauts could not have survived the radiation that they would have been exposed to while passing through the Van Allen radiation belt.[7]
- That photos taken on the moon do not show stars in the background.
- That video shows wind blowing the USA flag on the moon although the moon has no atmosphere.
- That the letter "C" is visible on a rock in a photo which indicates it was a Hollywood prop.
- The gloves on the Apollo space suits would have expanded in the vacuum of space to the point where they would be immobile.
- Who put the camera on the ground in front of the lunar lander to show Neil Armstrong stepping down the ladder for the first step on the moon?
- The shaded side of objects are not dark due to three point lighting in a studio.
Each one of these arguments have been contested with great fervor by numerous scientists and engineers.[8][9]
[edit] Other beliefs
In addition to contending that NASA never sent astronauts to the moon, Rene also proposes:
- Einstein's Theory of relativity is not valid
- That the Earth has no Equatorial bulge
- That Newton's law of universal gravitation is erroneous
- That Pi does not equal 3.1415926, but contests it equals 3.146264[10]
Rene addresses most of these issues in his self-published book, The Last Skeptic Of Science originally published in 1988. Its original title MENSA Lectures resulted in a lawsuit against him by MENSA who felt he was misappropriating the name of their organization and using it to suggest they backed his beliefs. Rene then chose to subtitle the book: The Book MENSA Tried To Stop. This portion was added as an appendix detailing the dispute[11].
[edit] Personal life
Rene referred to himself as an "extra bright kid from the slums". After attending Rutgers University for a time, he dropped out and went to work as a carpenter and millwright. He then continued to pursue his personal interests in structural, mechanical engineering, physics, writing and inventing. Rene held two patents, for simple mechanical tools[12][13]. He maintained a website that archives many of his past columns and essays on a wide variety of subjects.
As seen on the Penn & Teller episode (2005), Rene was mildly disabled due to severely arthritic hips.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ [1] AOL Video on Ralph Rene's Death
- ^ [2] Ralph Rene Books Non-Fiction
- ^ [3] The Truth Behind the Moon Landing 2004 TV
- ^ [4] Penn & Teller Bullshit! Season 3 Conspiracy Theories
- ^ [5] FOX documentary Did We Land On The Moon? from YouTube
- ^ [6] Ralph Rene's Biography
- ^ [7] Wired article with Ralph Rene
- ^ http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html
- ^ http://www.clavius.org
- ^ [8] Gaddy's Pi
- ^ [9] Ralph Rene Books Last Skeptic of Science
- ^ [10] Flame tip for soldering torch patent
- ^ [11] Variable pitch roof bracket patent
