Erich von Daniken, author who popularised ancient‑alien theories, dies at 90Listen to this articleErich von Daniken on his 90th birthday. ZURICH - Best-selling Swiss author Erich von Daniken, who built a lucrative career on his argument, rubbished by scientists and archaeologists, that humanity owes much of its development to the intervention of extraterrestrials, has died aged 90. Academics wrote books refuting his theories, criticising him as a purveyor of some of the more fantastical notions of pseudoscience. Such criticism never knocked von Daniken off his stride. - Alien return -In a treatise on his website, von Daniken said he was not an esoteric, and that his work served to debunk "a world of religious and unfortunately often scientific humbugs".
