Robert K. G. Temple (born in the U.S. in 1945) is an American author best known for his controversial book, The Sirius Mystery (1976; though Temple began writing it in 1967) which presents the idea that the Dogon people preserve the tradition of contact with intelligent extraterrestrial beings from the Sirius star-system. His writings on the Dogon are based on an interpretation of the work of ethnographers Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen.[1]
Temple received a degree in Oriental Studies and Sanskrit from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia 1965. He was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and an occasional broadcaster with the BBC. He resides in England with his wife Olivia, where they "run a theatrical-design archive, a Romanian cultural foundation, a Green-cement company . . . and a new music mini-label which has just issued 'The Art of the Fugue' by J.S.Bach, played on solo piano."[2]
Other books by Temple include The Genius of China and The Crystal Sun. He has also written several articles for Time-Life, and has contributed to journals such as New Scientist and The Poetry Review. His most recent book, written with his wife, is The Sphinx Mystery: The Forgotten Origins of the Sanctuary of Anubis published in early 2009 by Inner Traditions.[2][3]