Ralph Rene
Encyclopedia
Ralph René was an American
conspiracy theorist
, small press
publisher and inventor. René was a vocal proponent of the Apollo moon landing hoax theory. René's death was confirmed via a video on AOL. René'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.
René 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 René and other Moon Landing Hoax proponents as cultural vandals. René reacted onscreen with amusement and stated that he liked the characterization. René was also featured in a Season 3 episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit!
covering conspiracy theories. René was introduced as a physicist on the 2001 FOX
documentary, Did We Land On The Moon?, and had the designation "Author/Scientist" under his picture. However, René admitted in his biography that he did not hold a degree from any university and always referred to himself as "self-taught".
Some of his main arguments were that:
René addressed 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. René then chose to subtitle the book: The Book MENSA Tried To Stop. This portion was added as an appendix detailing the dispute.
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. René held two patents, for simple mechanical tools. He maintained a Web site that archived many of his past columns and essays on a wide variety of subjects.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conspiracy theorist
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
, small press
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
publisher and inventor. René was a vocal proponent of the Apollo moon landing hoax theory. René's death was confirmed via a video on AOL. René'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.
René 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
James Oberg
James Edward Oberg is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian space program.-Biography:...
referred to René and other Moon Landing Hoax proponents as cultural vandals. René reacted onscreen with amusement and stated that he liked the characterization. René was also featured in a Season 3 episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit!
Bullshit!
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! is an American documentary television series that aired from 2003 to 2010 on the premium cable channel Showtime. In Canada, the series aired on The Movie Network and Movie Central.- Overview :...
covering conspiracy theories. René was introduced as a physicist on the 2001 FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
documentary, Did We Land On The Moon?, and had the designation "Author/Scientist" under his picture. However, René admitted in his biography that he did not hold a degree from any university and always referred to himself as "self-taught".
Apollo moon landing
His 1992 self-published book, NASA Mooned America! details why he felt that the Apollo moon landings were faked and actually produced from a closed studio.Some of his main arguments were that:
- AstronautAstronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s could not have survived the radiation that they would have been exposed to while passing through the Van Allen radiation beltVan Allen radiation beltThe Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energetic charged particles around Earth, which is held in place by Earth's magnetic field. It is believed that most of the particles that form the belts come from solar wind, and other particles by cosmic rays. It is named after its discoverer, James...
. - That photos taken on the moon do not show stars in the background.
- That video shows wind blowing the U.S. 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 ArmstrongNeil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
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.
Other beliefs
In addition to contending that NASA never sent astronauts to the moon, René also proposes:- Einstein's theory of relativityTheory of relativityThe theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
is not valid - The Earth's Equatorial bulgeEquatorial bulgeAn equatorial bulge is a difference between the equatorial and polar diameters of a planet, due to the centrifugal force of its rotation. A rotating body tends to form an oblate spheroid rather than a sphere...
is smaller than that predicted by Isaac NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."... - Newton's law of universal gravitationNewton's law of universal gravitationNewton's law of universal gravitation states that every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them...
is erroneous. - That PiPi' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants...
is equal to 3.146264 - Fluorescence, not Rayleigh ScatteringRayleigh scatteringRayleigh scattering, named after the British physicist Lord Rayleigh, is the elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the light. The particles may be individual atoms or molecules. It can occur when light travels through...
, causes the sky to be blue. - Archimedes' principleArchimedes' principleArchimedes' principle relates buoyancy to displacement. It is named after its discoverer, Archimedes of Syracuse.-Principle:Archimedes' treatise On floating bodies, proposition 5, states that...
requires revision. - Coulomb's lawCoulomb's lawCoulomb's law or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of physics describing the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. It was first published in 1785 by French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb and was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism...
requires revision after experimentally 'proving' plates with like polarity and charge will repel, however plates with like polarity and different charge can attract. - The force that holds the solar systemSolar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
together is electrostatic.
René addressed 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
Mensa
Mensa meaning table in Latin, may refer to:*Mensa International, an organization for people with high IQs*Mensa , a southern star constellation*Mensa , a term used by geologists to refer to an extraterrestrial mesa...
who felt he was misappropriating the name of their organization and using it to suggest they backed his beliefs. René then chose to subtitle the book: The Book MENSA Tried To Stop. This portion was added as an appendix detailing the dispute.
Personal life
René referred to himself as an "extra bright kid from the slums". After attending Rutgers UniversityRutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
for a time, he dropped out and went to work as a carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
and millwright
Millwright
A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...
. He then continued to pursue his personal interests in structural
Structural engineering
Structural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right....
, mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, writing and inventing. René held two patents, for simple mechanical tools. He maintained a Web site that archived many of his past columns and essays on a wide variety of subjects.
See also
- Astronauts Gone WildAstronauts Gone WildAstronauts Gone Wild is a 2004 film made by Bart Sibrel, an amateur filmmaker from Nashville, Tennessee, United States who charges that the six Apollo moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s were elaborate hoaxes...
- Bill KaysingBill KaysingWilliam Charles Kaysing was a writer best known for claiming that the six Apollo moon landings between July 1969 and December 1972 were hoaxes...
- Bart SibrelBart SibrelBart Winfield Sibrel is a Nashville, Tennessee-based filmmaker who advances the conspiracy theory that the six Apollo Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes. He has filmed two documentaries on the subject: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon and Astronauts Gone Wild.-Dealings...
- Marcus AllenMarcus Allen (publisher)Marcus Allen is the British distributor and publisher of Nexus magazine, about conspiracy theories and paranormal claims. He says his publication offers "news and information that is overlooked, unreported or ignored by the mainstream media." He worked as a photographer in the 1960s, and is a...
- squaring the circleSquaring the circleSquaring the circle is a problem proposed by ancient geometers. It is the challenge of constructing a square with the same area as a given circle by using only a finite number of steps with compass and straightedge...