Zecharia Sitchin

Sitchin was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and was raised in Palestine. He acquired knowledge of modern and ancient Hebrew, other Semitic and European languages, the Torah, and the history and archeology of the Near East. He was one of the few scholars able to read and interpret ancient Sumerian and Akkadian clay tablets. 

Sitchin graduated from the London School of Economics, University of London, majoring in economic history. A journalist and editor in Israel for many years. His books have been widely translated, converted to braille for the blind, and featured on radio and television.

Since the release of his first book, The 12th Planet, in 1976, Sitchin has written seven other books as part of his Earth Chronicles series and six other companion books. Sitchin's books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been published in over 25 languages. New York Times reporter Corey Kilgannon has noted that despite academic dismissal of his work, Sitchin has "a devoted following of readers."

Critic Michael S. Heiser has called Sitchin "arguably the most important proponent of the ancient astronaut hypothesis over the last several decades." Sitchin was a frequent guest on the Coast to Coast AM radio show, which in 2010 presented Sitchin with a lifetime achievement award. Gods of the New Millennium author Alan F. Alford admits he initially became "infatuated" with Sitchin's hypotheses but later became a critic of Sitchin's interpretations of myth.