Matest M. Agrest

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Matest M. Agrest (born in 1915 near Mogilev, Belarus) was a Russian ethnologist and mathematician known chiefly for being an early proponent of ancient astronaut theories, which boomed in the 1970s.

In a 1959 work, he asserted a number of unorthodox claims, such as that the megalithic stone terracing at Baalbek had been used as a launch site for spaceships, and that the destruction of Biblical Sodom and Gomorrrah were the result of a nuclear explosion detonated by extra-terrestrial beings.

Matest M. Agrest was a major inspiration of later figures such as Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin, who in later decades popularized what would come to be known as the "Ancient Astronaut Theory".