The immensely successful author of a series of books about visitation by extraterrestrials. The most widely known is Chariots of the Gods? (1969). In his works, Von Daniken claimed that alien beings had visited Earth 10,000 years ago and created humans by altering the genes of apes in their own image. According to his theory, the extraterrestrials did not leave immediately and were subsequently worshiped as gods; archaeological study, he asserted reveals traces of their technology. Von Daniken’s ideas were backed up with copious evidence, most of which is more plausibly interpretated in more mundane ways and some of which has been found to be completely spurious. Von Daniken’s success may be attributable to his marketing of a product well suited to popular yearnings of the age.