2026-10-04 Chappell Natural Philosophy Society wiki (wiki.naturalphilosophy.org)
Access: Chrome navigated, but the extension has no read permission for this domain ("Permission denied for reading page content on this domain"), so the pages were read with web fetch (fallback). The site is an advocacy wiki for dissident science and has an interest in the ether hypothesis. Its biographical data are its characterization; it cites its source.
Rolf Schaffranke (https://wiki.naturalphilosophy.org/index.php?title=Rolf_Schaffranke) [web]
- Born 31 July 1921; died 22 April 1994 (aged 72). Residence: Young Harris, GA. Nationality German / USA.
- "Worked at Peenemunde, Germany alongside Werner von Braun during WWII"; brought to the US by American intelligence at the war's end; worked in the aerospace industry; "NASA consultant to propulsion laboratories in Huntsville, Alabama" before retirement; "Schaffranke adopted the pseudonym Rho Sigma while working for NASA."
- Works listed: abstracts "Space Energy" (1990) and "The Development of Post-Relativistic Concepts in Physics and Advanced Technology Abroad" (1981); books The New Tesla Electromagnetics and the Secrets of Electrical Free Energy (1984; with T.E. Bearden per the AFU list) and Ether-Technology (1977/1986/1996).
- Event: participant, 1st International Symposium on Nonconventional Energy Technology, 23 October 1981 (Toronto [memory, medium]).
- The wiki's source: Jeane Manning & Joel Garbon, Breakthrough Power (2008), p.11.
- Other sources differ on detail. Reddit gives death in Hayesville, N.C. and burial in Stone Mountain, Georgia (snippet). Davidson (1989) says Schaffranke "was one of the youngest co-workers with ... Wernher von Braun, at NASA in Huntsville, Alabama and was later employed by Boeing" (see the archive-org note). Bergier (1978) calls Rho Sigma "a distinguished German scientist who was at Peenemunde and who currently works for NASA. His identity is unknown to me." The Peenemünde/NASA career is so far documented only in these advocacy and popular sources. A Paperclip-era personnel record or an obituary would decide it (see Leads).
Shinichi Seiki (https://wiki.naturalphilosophy.org/index.php?title=Shinichi_Seiki) [web]
- Residence Uwajima City, Ehime; "Professor of Physics"; works: The Principles of Ultra-Relativity (1969, book) and "The Quasi-Monopole Device" (1993, abstract). The rest relays Ether-Technology p.82. The Japanese record (see the ja-wikipedia, cinii and jstage notes) is much fuller.
Ether-Technology entry (snippet only)
- "Rolf Schaffranke · 1977/1986/1996 · Rho Sigma / Adventures Unlimited Press · 108".