Margie Profet was the "It Girl" of the 1990s, being awarded a McArthur Grant for her work in evolutionary biology in 1993 despite a lack of formal scientific training. Her papers on motherhood and the evolutionary influences on menstruation and morning sickness were hailed as revolutionary by some, but also dismissed as unscientific and criticized for numerous flaws in logic by others. As pressure mounted, she became more involved in her work, and less connected with her family and friends. [more inside]
posted by AzraelBrown on Jun 30, 2009 - 33 comments

By the time he was twenty years old, artist, writer, and adventurer Everett Ruess was paling around with Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams and had spent several years trekking around the southwest United States. In November 1934, Ruess left Escalante, Utah and disappeared - never to be seen again. Seventy-five years later, Ruess has been found. (previously on MeFi)
posted by quartzcity on Apr 27, 2009 - 17 comments

American businessman Steve Fossett, who went missing last year after taking flight from Barron Hilton's Flying M Ranch (previously and previously), and was declared dead last February, had left many questions unanswered, including the possibility that he faked his own death. However, remains of his plane have just been found.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing on Oct 2, 2008 - 48 comments

Main Course or Colonel Kurtz? Michael was a Harvard graduate, but otherwise refused to follow in his father's footsteps. After graduating cum laude and serving a hitch in the army, he went to New Guinea as a member of the Harvard Peabody Museum expedition. As he explained it, "I have the desire to do something romantic and adventurous at a time when frontiers in the real sense of the word are disappearing." In 1961, Michael Rockefeller, fortunate son of the first order, disappeared while studying the Asmat people of New Guinea. Questions remain, however. Was he, indeed, eaten by the Asmat, who had a rumored history of cannibalism, or did he decide to go native? At least one documentary has explored this.
posted by John of Michigan on Dec 18, 2005 - 14 comments

The mystery of Stefan Mart and the 'Tales of the Nations'. "The Tales of Nations" was not an ordinary book that you could buy in a book store, and it's mysterious narrator/illustrator disappeared into the darkness of Hitler's Germany, seemingly without a trace. Learn the background, read the stories, and view all 150 fabulous colour illustrations — "small in size, but strong in expression, each a microcosm packed with action, each a feast for the eyes like a beautifully set jewel".
posted by taz on Jan 9, 2005 - 20 comments

Does this story about the US govt making someone disappear for no admitted reason scare you as much as it scares me?
posted by lerrup on Oct 21, 2002 - 32 comments

Condit says he broke off close friendship with Levy 2 days before she disappeared; says she became distraught and obsessive. Sorry to revisit the Chandra issue, but it seems that Congressman Condit is becoming guiltier by the day. (Of stupidity, at the very least -- if not something more sinister.)
posted by jennak on Jun 28, 2001 - 38 comments