Usenet Celebrity - Eccentric Believers

Eccentric Believers

These individuals (or user-IDs, or pseudonyms) are noted for their eccentric beliefs and theories.

• Alexander Abian (1923–1999) – American mathematician who taught for many years at Iowa State University who became an Internet legend for his incessant and frequently bizarre posts to various Usenet newsgroups. In particular, he gained international notoriety for his claims that blowing up the Moon would solve virtually every problem of human existence, and that mass and time are equivalent. (With regard to the second claim, it was suggested on the "sci.astro.amateur" newsgroup that his demise be observed with a gram of silence.) One of Dr. Abian's most endearing hypotheses was the challenge to the Big Bang Theory with the Big Suck Theory.
• Robert E. McElwaine (1948?–2008) – self-described Bachelor of Science in physics who wrote a series of ranting fringe science essays characteristically peppered with capitalized words for emphasis. Each essay covered topics such as alien influence on violence, free energy, coming UFO landings, and cancer cures, often carrying a message that there existed a conspiracy to suppress the information. The essays often concluded with the signature "UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY to COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS." McElwaine's writings stopped appearing on Usenet after 1998, although he continued writing essays up to 2003. He died at age 59 in his home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on 12 February 2008.
• Archimedes Plutonium (born Ludwig Poehlmann in 1950, raised as Ludwig Hansen, legally changed his name to Ludwig van Ludvig, then Ludwig Plutonium, then later changed it to Archimedes Plutonium) – noted for his many posts about his own theories of physics, mathematics, and stock market investing, and in particular his "Plutonium Atom Totality" theory, which posits that the universe is a giant plutonium atom and that galaxies are "dots" in the electron dot cloud of this atom.
• Jack Sarfatti – American author of a number of popular works on quantum physics and consciousness, known for his iconoclastic ideas concerning the schism between science and the humanities, as well as space migration, intelligence increase, life extension, UFOs, extraterrestrials, time travel, and psychokinesis.