posted on Jan, 8 2004 @ 08:44 PM
Is it a mere coincidence that all of these scientists died under mysterious circumstances?
1) Nov. 12, 2001: Benito Que, 52
--Expertise: Expert in infectious diseases and cellular biology at the Miami Medical School
--Circumstances of Death: Que left his laboratory after receiving a telephone call. Shortly afterward he was found comatose in the parking lot of the
Miami Medical School. He died without regaining consciousness. Police said he had suffered a heart attack. His family insisted he had been in perfect
health and claimed four men attacked him. But, later, oddly, the family inquest returned a verdict of death by natural causes.
2) Nov. 16, 2001: Don C. Wiley, 57
--Expertise: One of the foremost microbiologists in the United States. Dr. Wiley, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard University, was an
expert on how the immune system responds to viral attacks such as the classic doomsday plagues of HIV, ebola and influenza.
--Circumstances: He had just bought tickets to take his son to Graceland the following day. He had just left a banquet for fellow researchers in
Memphis. Police found his rental car on a bridge outside Memphis, Tenn. His body was found Dec. 20 in the Mississippi River. his family said he was in
perfect health. There was no autopsy. Forensic experts said he may have had a dizzy spell and have fallen off the bridge. Why did he leave the keys in
the ignition and his lights on? Why was Wiley�s car facing in the opposite direction from his father�s house, which was only a short distance away?
3) Nov. 21, 2001: Vladimir Pasechnik, 64
--Expertise: World-class microbiologist and high-profile Russian defector; defected to the United Kingdom in 1989, played a huge role in Russian
biowarfare and helped to figure out how to modify cruise missiles to deliver the agents of mass biological destruction.
--Background: founded Regma Biotechnologies company in Britain, a laboratory at Porton Down, the country�s chem-bio warfare defense establishment.
Regma currently has a contract with the U.S. Navy for "the diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of anthrax".
--Circumstances: The pathologist who did the autopsy, and who also happened to be associated with Britain�s spy agency, concluded he died of a stroke.
Details of the postmortem were not revealed at an inquest, in which the press was given no prior notice. Colleagues who had worked with Pasechnik said
he was in good health.
4) Dec. 10, 2001: Robert M. Schwartz, 57
--Expertise: Expert in DNA sequencing and pathogenic micro-organisms, founding member of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, and the Executive
Director of Research and Development at Virginia�s Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon.
--Circumstances: stabbed and slashed with what police believe was a sword in his farmhouse in Leesberg, Va. His daughter, who identifies herself as a
pagan high priestess, and several of her fellow pagans have been charged.
5) Dec. 14, 2001: Nguyen Van Set, 44
--Expertise: animal diseases facility of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization had just come to fame for discovering a
virulent strain of mousepox, which could be modified to affect smallpox.
--Circumstances: died at work in Geelong, Australia, in a laboratory accident. He entered an airlocked storage lab and died from exposure to nitrogen.
6) Feb. 9, 2002: Victor Korshunov, 56
--Expertise: Expert in intestinal bacteria of children around the world
--Circumstances: bashed over the head near his home in Moscow.
7) Feb. 14, 2002: Ian Langford, 40
--Expertise: expert in environmental risks and disease.
--Circumstances: found dead in his home near Norwich, England, naked from the waist down and wedged under a chair.
8) Feb. 28, 2002: Tanya Holzmayer, 46
--Expertise: a Russian who moved to the U.S. in 1989, focused on the part of the human molecular structure that could be affected best by medicine.
--Circumstances: killed by fellow microbiologist Guyang (Matthew) Huang, who shot her seven times when she opened the door to a pizza delivery. Then
he shot himself.
9) Feb. 28, 2002: Guyang Huang, 38
--Expertise: Microbiologist
--Circumstances: Apparently shot himself after shooting fellow microbiologist, Tanya Holzmayer, seven times.
10) March 24, 2002: David Wynn-Williams, 55
--Expertise: Respected astrobiologist with the British Antarctic Survey, who studied the habits of microbes that might survive in outer space.
--Circumstances: Died in a freak road accident near his home in Cambridge, England. He was hit by a car while he was jogging.
11) March 25, 2002: Steven Mostow, 63
--Expertise: Known as "Dr. Flu" for his expertise in treating influenza, and a noted expert in bioterrorism of the Colorado Health Sciences Centre.
--Circumstances: died when the airplane he was piloting crashed near Denver.
12) August 10, 2003: Dr. David Kelly, 59
--Expertise: Biological warfare weapons specialist, senior post at the Ministry of Defense, an expert on DNA sequencing when he was head of
microbiology at Porton Down
--Circumstances:
--Helped Vladimir Pasechnik found Regma Biotechnologies, which has a contract with the U.S. Navy for "the diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of
anthrax"
--worked with two American scientists, Benito Que, 52, and Don Wiley, 57.