Reiner Protsch

Rudolf Reiner Robert Protsch ( born January 14, 1939 in Berlin ) is a German anthropologist. He has worked since 1973 as a professor at the Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics for Biologists at the University of Frankfurt, before he was first suspended by embezzlement and fraud allegations in April 2004 on the service in February 2005 and had to leave the university. With fake skull dating he had caused one of the biggest science scandals in Germany.

As a professor of anthropology Protsch possessed because of his training in the United States first gained a reputation as a paleoanthropologist and published numerous sensational dating of skull fragments (eg alleged Neanderthal skull), which he dated to the Paleolithic period, allegedly by his own analysis ( radiocarbon method).

Counter Protsch Mainz and Frankfurt orthopedic Klaus -Dieter Thomann also have been allegations by the medical historian at the University, 2001 acts of Nazi racial hygiene research by Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer and Josef Mengele, who worked at the former Institute for Genetic Biology and Racial Hygiene since 1935, destroyed in the year, and to have been denied their existence. Parts of this document archive, however, were found in 2004 outside his institution again.

According to the mirror Protsch was appointed in 1973 on the C4 - professorship, although he was not qualified as a professor and had no high school diploma. Claims to Protsch had earned numerous academic degrees, including a Ph.D. in 1973 of the University of California, Los Angeles (The dating of Upper Pleistocene sub-Saharan fossil hominids and Their place in human evolution: with morphological and archaeological implications ).

Name

Protsch, in 1991 changed its name to Protsch of Zieten wants descended from Zieten, by its own account from the tab General Hans Joachim. This is disputed not only from their own family.

History of science scandal

The information comes mainly from the press releases on 17 February 2005, published by the Press Office of the University.

Court proceedings against Protsch

On 22 July 2006, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing the Frankfurt prosecutor's office, Protsch am accused of forgery, breach of trust, embezzlement, attempted fraud and violations of the protection of species. Have Protsch can be, among other things in 2001 from the University of Frankfurt a donation receipt for 300,000 marks for a fossil collection exhibit, which allegedly came from his own possession, but actually belonged to a Hamburg paleontologists, the collection of the University of Frankfurt as a permanent loan had asked. In this context Protsch have also submitted fake expertise. Protsch also have their documents of title away from valuable books of the University Library and its own stamp in set.

Was rated as a forgery by the prosecution and that Protsch mill out the registration number of chimpanzee skulls and by his own Signum " RPvZ " was replaced. The skulls belong to the so-called PAN unique collection of 278 specimens collected in Africa, which had been acquired in the 50s and 60s for the Frankfurt Institute. Protsch have this collection as his property issued and offered in 2002 under the presentation of forged certificates for sale $ 70,000 a U.S. counterparts. This attempted sale, which would have been subject to approval by the German Endangered Species Act, the time had first investigation against Protsch result.

On 17 June 2009, the trial opened against the Federal Nature Conservation Act, among others, for forgery, embezzlement, attempted fraud, embezzlement and breach of Protsch before the Frankfurt Regional Court. Overall Protsch were laid 17 criminal offenses. Under an arrangement with the court, which he promised to sentence him in the event of a confession only to a suspended prison sentence, Protsch admitted through one of its three defenders on all points of the indictment.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that the criminal allegations of the prosecution " reinforce the image of a deeply dishonest man." The presiding judge said in the verdict of a " narcissistic personality ", the psychiatric expert Norbert Leygraf earlier by a "significantly narcissistic - histrionic [n ] Persönlichkeitsakzentuierung " whose origin he saw due to the difficult childhood of the defendant, but included a disturbance in the sense of a debt reduction.

The District Court of Frankfurt am Main on 19 June 2009 Protsch sentenced to eighteen months probation.

Lady of Kelsterbach

Since becoming aware of the false datings and the onset of government investigation against Protsch in 2004 also allegedly 31,000 years old skull fragment of the Lady of Kelsterbach until 2003, the oldest evidence of a Cro- Magnon man, along with other fossils disappeared and leaves is considerable doubt as to the dating back through Protsch.

Writings

• Rainer Berger: Earliest Radiocarbon Dates for Domesticated Animals, Science 179, 1973, p 235-239
• Jeffrey L. Bada: racemization Reaction of Aspartic Acid and Its Use in Dating Fossil Bones, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 70, 1973, p 1331-1334
• Jeffrey L. Bada, Roy A. Schroeder, Rainer Berger: Concordance of Collagen -Based Radiocarbon and Aspartic Acid racemization age, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 71, 1974, p 914-917
• The absolute dating of Upper Pleistocene sub-Saharan fossil Hominids and Their place in human evolution, Journal of Human Evolution 4, 1975, p 297-322
• Catalog of fossil hominids of North America, Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart, New York 1978, ISBN 3-437-10554- X
• The archaeological and anthropological results of the carbon -Larsen expeditions in Northern Tanzania from 1933 to 1939. Volume 3: The palaeoanthropological finds of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, Archaeologica Venatoria, Tübingen 1981, ISBN 3-921618-11-8