Johannes von Buttlar

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Johannes von Buttlar , actually Johannes Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels (born April 20, 1940 as Johannes Busacker in Berlin ) is an author who publishes books on topics such as esotericism or UFOs as well as anti-aging and astrophysics . The scientific nature of Buttlar's books has been questioned by several reviewers and scholars.

Life

Buttlar was born as Johannes Busacker on April 20, 1940 in Berlin. He later took the pseudonym Johannes Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels . His father was the graduate engineer Hans Busacker. He assumed the name Johannes Freiherr Treusch von Buttlar -Brandenfels through adoption at the age of 28 on March 28, 1969 . Buttlar lives in the Reichenau plain in Carinthia . In 1964 he married the opera singer Elise Sack in Uxbridge / Middlesex in England.

Buttlar often gives the impression of being a scientist (more precisely: "astrophysicist") at public appearances, in newspaper and magazine articles, at talk shows, in book advertising and at UFO and esoteric fairs . Details of his academic career can be found in the blurbs of his books: there it is stated that he studied psychology and philosophy in Australia and then took part in geological expeditions. He was a member of a special military unit. After all, he continued his studies in astronomy , physics and mathematics in England . In 1969 the Royal Astronomical Society appointed him a Fellow (member). After that, he initially collected scientific data from around the world at the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) before he was promoted to "Head of the Central European Department".

In the blurb of his books Adams Planet and Buttlars Report , Buttlar traded as a "Doctor of Natural Sciences" in the early 1990s. A short time later, the title that preceded his name disappeared from the flaps of his books. An explanation for this phenomenon was found after journalists from the news magazine Der Spiegel came across the customer profile of the title dealer Hans Herbert Hain . In it, Buttlar's payment of 9,490 Marks for a fake doctorate (Dr. rer. Nat.) From the "University of Prague" title mill was recorded on November 7, 1990 , which is why proceedings for misuse of the title were initiated. The court proceedings against Buttlar were discontinued in 1992 on the condition that he no longer had his “doctorate” in Germany.

As a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society , his obligation essentially consisted of paying the annual membership fee of around 100 marks. He lost his membership in 1989 due to missed payments and has not been authorized to use the Society's name since. In the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), a Philadelphia-based private company, Buttlar was, according to his superior, a representative whose task it was to compile the Science Citation Index published by the company (an overview of the most important ones published in one year scientific articles) for sale to librarians.

At the beginning of 1998 Buttlar put his qualifications into perspective in an interview in Zeitmagazin : although he studied at the University of Queensland in 1961, he was unable to finish his studies because of a (life-threatening) tick bite . The University of Queensland found in its files, although no evidence of his enrollment , but with Butt Lars statement to the effect that he was at the beginning of the first semester again expelled , is compatible have. After returning to Europe, he was a guest student in Great Britain at Ealing Technical College and then at the University of Leeds . However, he did not have the time to obtain academic degrees. How the Ealing Technical College is said to have contributed to Buttlar's academic training as an "astrophysicist", the physicist Pössel does not understand, since it only offered courses in applied subjects such as fashion design , marketing and accounting , but not in physics, mathematics or astronomy.

In teleshopping channel HSE24 Buttlar provides nutritional supplements for sale.

Work and reception

In August 1972 von Buttlar published his first book under the title Faster than Light . This was followed by books on topics such as esotericism , UFOs , astrophysics and later anti-aging .

The Star said in its issue 4/73 Buttlar any scientific expertise from. In the criticism of the book Schneller als das Licht , he mocked it as a “parody of a non-fiction book” and feared that “the readers should be fooled”. In a review of the book Zeitsprung by Heinrich Satter in the FAZ, Heinrich Satter criticizes that “problems that are among the most [...] complicated are brought to the attention of the 'broad public'. For this purpose it is simplified - until the limit of what is reasonable is exceeded ”. The science journalist Dirk Lorenzen criticized the chronologically chaotic narrative style of the book Spacetime - Provocation of Creation , the core messages of which often disappeared under overflowing anecdotes, descriptions of private encounters and funny stories. The speculations are entertaining, but hardly understandable. A serious, didactically correct introduction to the topics of space, time and gravity should not be expected from it.

Buttlar often recycles entire passages and extensive sections of chapters from his earlier works in new book titles, without indicating this to the reader. For example, 49% of the content of the 1989 Zeitriß was taken verbatim from three older books. He often also takes over literally or slightly reformulated material from books and articles by other authors without indicating the presumption of other people's intellectual achievements. The specialist literature specified in its source index has no content-related references to the main text. Many fundamental misunderstandings in Buttlar's works resulted from the recourse to popular scientific and generally understandable representations, with which Buttlar compensated for his incomplete knowledge of physics. In various cases, these popular science templates could be identified. The sections on the physical properties of the planets Mars and Pluto in Buttlar's book Life on Mars , partly plagiarized sentence by sentence , come from the first volume of Isaac Asimov's series The exact secrets of our world (Isaac Asimov's New Guide to Science). Buttlar took over the same names, statements, figures, side notes and explanations from Asimov without changing the order. Overall, only these acquisitions make up 3% of the text of Life on Mars , and there are many more examples. Buttlar does not mention Asimov's book in the bibliography. The book The Methuselah Formula , published in 1994, is identical to the book Der Menschheitstraum , published in 1975, except for a revision and minor additions .

According to the physicist Markus Pössel, Buttlar's descriptions are “essentially characterized by a lack of overview and a large number of fundamental misunderstandings”. Buttlar's books are riddled with errors. He misunderstood even simple things that a physics student would learn in introductory lectures, such as Newton's gravitational field . Buttlar did not understand the meaning of a solution to the Einstein field equations describing the physical phenomenon of gravity . His claim that Roy Kerr proved that black holes have to rotate is wrong, since the Schwarzschild metric and the Kerr metric as solutions satisfy the Einstein equations equally and there is no reason to rotate the non-rotating black based on the theory of relativity alone Preferable to holes. These wrong views are followed by other incomprehensible assumptions and errors of Buttlar, which testify to a lack of physical education. Although Buttlar describes spaceship voyages and crossings of Einstein-Rosen bridges in many places , the reader is deprived of the many reasons for the fundamental impassability of Einstein-Rosen bridges, which speak against Buttlar's scenarios. Kerr has not shown that there are tunnel structures in rotating black holes, as Buttlar claims. Buttlar's analysis of the stability of white holes is amateurish and remote: He presents them as a possible explanation for quasars , a view that, after the evidence of the instability of white holes, no longer corresponds to the current state of science since the mid-1970s.

Publications

literature

  • Winfried C. Schmitt: The circulation millionaires. Encounters, conversations and experiences with 44 writers. Gauke Verlag, Münden 1988, ISBN 3-87998-075-6 .
  • Gisi and Michael Redepenning: Interview with von Buttlar. In: Playboy . No. 5, May 1990, pp. 42-49.
  • Fritz Rumler: Fishing over there . In: Der Spiegel . Vol. 48, No. 23 of June 6, 1994, pp. 200-202.
  • Plagiarism from Pretoria . In: Der Spiegel. Vol. 50 (1996), No. 17 of April 22, pp. 81-87.
  • Mars. The new earth. In: Quest for knowledge Magazine. Vol. 1 (1997) No. 3, pp. 48-50, ISSN  1366-7971 .
  • Jörg Albrecht: Are we looking at the future here? In: Zeitmagazin . No. 8 of February 12, 1998, pp. 22-25.
  • Markus Pössel: Fantastic Science. About Erich von Däniken and Johannes von Buttlar. Rowohlt, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-499-60259-8 .
  • "Yes, the Buttlar still exists ..." The bestselling author is back. With new projects. In: Mysteries. Controversial, mysterious, amazing. Volume 4, No. 1, 2007, pp. 46-49, ISSN  1660-4377 .
  • Johannes von Buttlar: The age brake. Give more youth to the years. In: Naturally young. (= Matrix 3000 / special issue) No. 9, 2009, pp. 18-23, ISSN  1439-4154 .
  • Rudolf Kippenhahn : The bulge in space-time. Bild der Wissenschaft Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 3/1989, p. 146f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Wilhelm Kosch , Heinz Rupp , Carl Ludwig Lang (eds.): German Literature Lexicon . The 20th century. Biographical-bibliographical manual. Volume 5: Butenschön - Dedo. KG Saur Verlag, Zurich / Munich 2003, ISBN 3-908255-05-8 , p. 20.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Fritz Rumler: Fishing over there. In: Der Spiegel. June 6, 1994.
  3. ↑ a b Markus Pössel: Fantastic Science. About Erich von Däniken and Johannes von Buttlar. Rowohlt, Hamburg 2000, pp. 227f.
  4. ^ Plagiarism from Pretoria. In: Der Spiegel. April 22, 1996.
  5. ↑ Markus Pössel: Fantastic Science. About Erich von Däniken and Johannes von Buttlar. Rowohlt, Hamburg 2000, p. 228 and p. 230.
  6. ↑ Markus Pössel: Fantastic Science. About Erich von Däniken and Johannes von Buttlar. Rowohlt, Hamburg 2000, p. 229.
  7. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . October 28, 1977, p. 27.
  8. ↑ Dirk Lorenzen: The riddle of the world. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur . March 30, 2009.
  9. ↑ Markus Pössel: Fantastic Science. About Erich von Däniken and Johannes von Buttlar. Rowohlt, Hamburg 2000, p. 231 and p. 309-310.
  10. ↑ Markus Pössel: Fantastic Science. About Erich von Däniken and Johannes von Buttlar. Rowohlt, Hamburg 2000, p. 231 and p. 306-310.
personal data
SURNAME Buttlar, Johannes von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Busacker, Johannes (maiden name); Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels, Johannes Freiherr; Brandon, John (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin