(Investigator Magazine 185, 2019 March)

The large-print headline in The Advertiser read: "Eccentric scientist killed: son charged". (2019, February 9, p. 5)

We met "eccentric", Italian-born, Frank Pio Russo in "Door to Door Muscleman Gets Second Thoughts" (Investigator #21), "Russo A Relatively Great Name" (#31), "Mensa Candidate Ponders Big Questions" (#58), and "A Website Worth Investigating". (#172)

The Advertiser report mentions Frank Russo's scholastic and bodybuilding accomplishments, similar as reported in Investigator Magazine, and adds: "Mr Russo claimed to have a cure for diabetes and said he could halt the aging process."

Russo's big ambition was to modify Einstein's Theory of Relativity and get a Nobel Prize. (#44; #45; #53; #149; #151; #165 - #168) Investigator #31 had a supplement titled "The Required Modifications For Relativity to be Universal" a version of which was later published in a physics journal. In #33 we considered whether success would  make Russo Australia's first Nobel Prize winner in Physics or second.

Russo shared some of his medical insights in Investigator, but much more is on his own website including how to cure diabetes and damaged hip joints and halt aging. He helped to abort an acrimonious, going-nowhere, Evolution vs Creation debate with his articles "Halt Irrelevant Bickering" (#92) and "Quotes Alone Are Inadequate". (#94)

He considered himself "the Greatest Scientist ... of All Time", corresponded with politicians and other scientists, and got himself in the news regularly. The Payneham Messenger (1994, February 9) quotes him: "Having solved relativity and engineered a new perception of the universe  ... I wanted more!"


Russo was versatile — his website has 756 articles authored with few exceptions by himself — but academic recognition by peers proved elusive. Some of his science was wacky such as his claim that defrosting his freezer and thawing bottled ice (#160) could change the climate and produce rain.


Update:
Regarding the headline "Eccentric scientist killed; son charged". Prosecutors dropped the charge because, "Frank Russo suffered from a heart condition and ... the possibility he had died from natural causes could not be ruled out."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-25/murder-charge-dropped-against-son/11546370.htm