The Adventures of Buckaroo Zöllner Across the Fourth Dimension

“An attempt at visualizing the Fourth Dimension: Take a point, stretch it into a line, curl it into a circle, twist it into a sphere, and punch through the sphere” – Albert Einstein

Dr. Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner, Defender of the Third Dimension

I’ve recently come to the important conclusion that Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, fictional physicist, neuroscientist, test pilot, and rock musician featured in the 1984 cult science-fiction classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension was modeled after the all-too-real astrophysicist, perception psychologist, and strange phenomena investigator, Dr. Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner (1834-1882) of Leipzig University.  While Zöllner never faced off with the Red Lectroids from Planet 10, he did explore the theoretical possibility that ghosts were invaders from the Fourth Dimension.

Zöllner’s academic credentials were impressive long before he started delving into the twilight realm of disembodied spirits.  He was chair of astrophysics at Leipzig University…