Was South Pole astrophysicist murdered?

I am posting this on behalf of a friend who is travelling around the world at present, he asked me if i could enquire on ATS to see if anyone else has heard anything on this.

It is regarding a Dr Rodney Marks, an astrophysicist working for Raytheon Polar Services, an offshoot from Raytheon Company Ltd, the major US defence supplier. It would appear that he died after a lethal injection of methanol, however the lack of co-operation from all involved is causing a lot of questions.

Scientist Rodney Marks died at the South Pole in May 2000. Months later, tests showed he had been poisoned by a lethal dose of methanol. Dogged efforts by New Zealand authorities to investigate his puzzling death have been stonewalled by Marks' American employers. Now documents obtained under America's Freedom of Information Act suggest diplomatic heat is being brought to bear on the NZ inquiry. Andrea Hotere reports.


An American government department appears to be applying diplomatic pressure to the New Zealand police investigation into the mysterious death of an Australian scientist poisoned at the South Pole.

Police have said Dr Rodney Marks, a brilliant young astrophysicist who died in 2000 from a lethal dose of methanol, may have been murdered. They said suicide was "the least likely scenario" to explain his death.

But New Zealand investigators have been frustrated by a lack of co-operation from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US body that runs the US Antarctic programme and for whom Marks, 32, worked.


Source: Astrophysicist dies at the South Pole

Has anyone heard anything about this? Could Dr Marks have known something that people in the Raytheon did'nt want him to know?

CX.

I find this post very interesting because yesterday I read an article about a UFO researcher possibly being poisoned with methanol. I believe I got to that story via the Phil Schneider memorial site.

There was an entire article on the mysterious deaths of UFO researchers and a spate of weird deaths involving biologists, which occurred in a very short period of time.

If anyone is interested, let me know. I'll dig up the link again.

What the hey!

This is extremely perplexing. Let me do some independent research and I'll get back to you with my findings.

Your friend who knows Mark -- can you get any feedback from him regarding what the family thinks of the situtation? That would also be enlightening perhaps, particularly if the family is verbal about this possibly being murder....

bumping this up as relevant for several reasons

hopefully the great ATS ers in the US getting up now,

seems some links with proven spin and usa involvement

global warming ufos?

elf

Here's the NSF's press release on the matter. I'm not sure if they ever forwarded an update, but I'd doubt it.

You know, the NSF has a dirty feel to it sometimes, particularly with the cutting-edge research they're involved with.

Anyway, the press release attributes Rodney's death to "natural causes."

A move by NSF and Raytheon to cover up drug abuse by their scientists.

The documents also include the police survey sent to the 50 people at the Pole when Marks died. It includes questions about intravenous drug use (at the inquest in December, it was reported Marks had three needle marks in his right arm) and drinking games at the station.

Nesbit said Raytheon Polar Services, as the NSF's contractor for Antarctic services, assumed all "audit, accounting and responsibility" and was responsible for medical care that Marks received.

That was from the NZ newspaper story itself. Wouldn't make good headlines if NSF revealed that its own scientists, which they send to the polar regions for months on end, were producing their own drugs to kill the time....

Apparently Rodney was an authority on the "green flash" phenomonon, when there is quite literally a brilliant flash of alternative color just before the sun goes down completely, often in green.

From a blogger:

Such was the case here. Turns out that Rodney Marks studied and photographed a phenomenon known as the 'green flash', as a hobby. I've been aware of this green flash for decades, but whenever I try and tell someone else about it - they think I'm crazy or pullin' their leg. Welp, no more ...

Good reading on the flash.

It's interesting, but I doubt this phenomenon or his research into such, is attributable to a possible homicide.

Most likely he was gonna talk about the secret anti gravity launches to the moon... maybe those unexplained green flashes are glimpses of the drives in operation...

Offhand I'd say the green flash is unrelated directly. It could be he was taking a photo and spotted something he should not have seen at the same time.

Its a good reminder to keep our heads low. It is still open season on scientists.

Originally posted by behindthescenes
it was reported Marks had three needle marks in his right arm

was he left-handed? if he wasn't then he probably didn't do that to himself.

Good observation justy. That's a question that needs answering. I think the 'green flash' aspect as well as drug use are intentionally placed red herrings.

My suspicions are always aroused when I read of yet another dead scientist.
I will watch this story as more details are reported.

The drugs/drinking games comments, reek of disinfo.

Guess we can add another to the list

Dead Scientists lists
Dead Scientists #2

A quick google, will reveal many "dead scientist" lists.

Had this thread not caught my eye, I wouldn't have recalled something I read about quite some time ago related to this subject. I'd still be in my armchair too...thanks a lot!

what is happening at the south pole?

The one paragraph in particular that caught my attention and that may (or may not) concern us here, was this one:

Almost immediately after the discovery of the Columbia "Vostok magnetic anomaly," word began to leak out that JPL was inexplicably "pulling back from its Vostok exploration program." The reason given was the previously stated "environmental concerns." This was all well and good, until unconfirmed reports began to surface that a JPL spokesperson had admitted at a February press conference that the National Security Agency (NSA) had literally taken over the JPL polar research program at Lake Vostok. It was this report which created something of a firestorm on the Internet.

I think something is rotten in the state of Antarctica... It appears to me that the author works for The Enterprise Mission. Regardless of one's opinion about enterprise mission the articles make for some thought-evoking reads

Dead scientists seem to be the canaries in the mines, so to speak. For those interested: Even MORE dead scientists!



Almost forgot, what's up guys?

[edit on 23-1-2007 by EZapata]

And the mystery grows.

Apparently Vostok isn't the only buried Antartic lake. A bunch more were discovered last year.

Check out the press release that was pretty much ignored by the rest of the world.

Very telling were these two excepts from the release:

Shallow lakes scooped out by glaciers or a meteorite impact can quickly fill with sediment, and thus are short lived. Lakes created by faulted blocks of the Earth’s crust, however, are deeper and don’t fill in as rapidly. Many of the smaller sub-glacial lakes scientists have identified so far are believed to be shallow “ephemeral” lakes that were suddenly sealed off by the ice.

and...

This, along with the tectonic origin of the lakes, supports the idea that despite climate changes on the surface over the last 10 million to 35 million years, the volume of the lakes have remained remarkably constant, providing a stable, if inhospitable, environment that may harbor an ancient and alien ecosystem adapted to life beneath the ice sheet. However, just how, when or even whether scientists will risk the possibility of contaminating the lakes to confirm their suspicions remains the subject of an ongoing international debate.

Originally posted by EZapata
I think something is rotten in the state of Antarctica...

You may be right about "State" LOL with all the US Military activity and NASA, JPL and others there are many strange goings on down there...

And have been since the end of WWII... Those lakes were discovered in the late 40's and rumored to be unfrozen at the time (still tracking that one down)

Some of the stuff you pointed to here I didn't have yet...

I have been working on a collection of Antarctica "mysteries" what I have so far is here...

landoflegends.us...

If you have any more strange pieces of the puzzle please let me know

The Antarctic lakes have intrigued me ever since I first read about them. They're unique on Earth and it appears as though they go through "seasons" and have their own ecosystems. For further reading on the sub-ice lakes: Ebb, Flow of Antarctic Subglacial Plumbing System

Back to the topic at hand, it may be difficult in ascertaining exactly why Dr. Marks died but perhaps some on the ball ATSers can dig up some information pointing to what exactly is going on in the south pole continent. Dr. Marks may serve as an arrow pointing us where to look. As far as I can tell, Dr. Marks did not display all the symptoms of methanol (wood alcohol) poisoning having only complained of breathing problems and subsequently passing on due to natural causes. More importantly, Dr. Marks--from what I've read about the guy--was not one to be susceptible to such carelessness.

The name Jeff Nesbit rings a stupid little bell in my head but I can't recall where I've heard it mentioned before. Apparently, a quick google search of his name will show him to have professions ranging from author, presidential press secretary, and communication's strategist. Nonetheless, I cannot recall the context in which I heard his name before, perhaps he's irrelevant.

Karl Erb, however, was a new name to me. Maybe somebody would like to email him:
[email protected]

This story becomes more enigmatic at the turn of every stone. So, over four years after the initial proposal to explore Lake Vostok and they're still skirting the "Exploration and Study of Subglacial Environments"? See the Ongoing Projects at the Polar Research Board (PRB). Which subglacial environment could they be talking about? What took the cake for me was discovering that I studied under one of the professors involved in the project! Also, why would SETI be involved? Perhaps more importantly, why are certain US agencies so involved in the goings-on, i.e. NSA? I thought nobody "owned" Antarctica? Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Time to put down the coffee...

In my defense, the ongoing projects at the PRB points to continuing and on-going interest in the subglacial environment of Lake Vostok. There's a web of agencies and individuals involved so it's easy to get lost. Hopefully somebody has something else to add.

If you have any more strange pieces of the puzzle please let me know

I certainly do! The volume of your work is impressive and it will take me a while to fully absorb it. I know what I'm doing tonight That being said, perhaps you already have reference to the idea that the legends of Atlantis point to Antarctica. In the context of the theory of catastrophism, it perhaps lends some credence to the fabled city, if not some kind of civilization that may have called the continent home at some point in human history. Indeed, it appears as though Antarctica has been mapped extensively even before the invention of airplanes much less equipment capable of mapping sub-ice coast line. Bizarre stuff.

*Edit for link

[edit on 24-1-2007 by EZapata]

Originally posted by EZapata
I certainly do! The volume of your work is impressive and it will take me a while to fully absorb it. I know what I'm doing tonight

That being said, perhaps you already have reference to the idea that the legends of Atlantis point to Antarctica.

Yes and we at Pegasus think it is significant that the series SG-1 has the Gate to Atlantis in Antarctica... but thats another story... just a strange coincidence perhaps...

However Malin Space System operations in Antarctica is not a coincidence in our view

www.msss.com...

Found this one, had to drop it in as a "curiousity" We all remember Admiral Byrd yes?

Here is his "Snow Cruiser"

www.joeld.net...

[edit on 24-1-2007 by zorgon]

i read that there were other medical evacuationsin the 2000 -2001- time frame. the links are here
but they all now lead to generic news about antartica..i just quickly scaned through them but didn't see the articles in refence....sorta funny..
here is alink from cnn

The mission to retrieve Dr. Ronald Shemenski from the Amundsen-Scott Station left hours after a New Zealand air force plane retrieved 11 Americans from different outpost on the other side of Antarctica.

Arlington, Va.—National Science Foundation (NSF) officials have asked the U.S. Air Force to send a transport jet to Antarctica to evacuate several people from McMurdo Station, the main U.S. research station on the continent. The flight will allow the patients to receive a level of treatment that is unavailable at McMurdo.

link

dangerous place....

as anyone seen the movie "The Thing"...........