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Charles R. Pellegrino is an American writer, and the controversial author of several books relating to science and archaeology, including Return to Sodom and Gomorrah, Ghosts of the Titanic, Unearthing Atlantis and Ghosts of Vesuvius.

One of his recent books (co-authored with Simcha Jacobovici) is The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History (2007), a companion book to the Discovery Channel documentary on the same subject created in part by film director James Cameron.

Biography
Pellegrino, the son of John and Jane Pellegrino, was born in 1953 in New York, New York.

He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees at Long Island University in the mid-1970s and claims to have received a Ph.D. at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand in 1982.

Pellegrino's website states that he has taught at Hofstra University and Adelphi University's Center for Creative Arts. It also says he has served as a member of the Space Studies Institute and as a space-flight consultant at the Cradle of Aviation Museum.

He travelled with Robert Ballard to the Galapagos Rift after Ballard's discovery of the R.M.S. Titanic (in 1985).

Last Train from Hiroshima
In January 2010, Henry Holt published Pellegrino's Last Train from Hiroshima, a look at the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima from the vantage of survivors.

The New York Times initially praised the book as "sober and authoritative" and as a "firm and compelling synthesis of earlier memoirs and archival material". However, a month later the New York Times reported on allegedly false historical data found in Pellegrino's book. As The New York Times stated, Pelligrino's book:

"… claims to reveal a secret accident with the atom bomb that killed one American and irradiated others and greatly reduced the weapon’s destructive power… There is just one problem. That section of the book and other technical details of the mission are based on the recollections of Joseph Fuoco, who is described as a last-minute substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the Enola Gay… But Mr. Fuoco… never flew on the bombing run, and he never substituted for James R. Corliss, the plane’s regular flight engineer, Mr. Corliss’s family says. They, along with angry ranks of scientists, historians and veterans, are denouncing the book and calling Mr. Fuoco an impostor."

In addition to the issues covered by The New York Times, veterans of the 509th Operations Group, the Air Force unit which dropped the atomic bombs, issued a detailed list of substantive problems with many of the book's claims about the bomb and the Air Force personnel involved.

The New York Times added, "Facing a national outcry and the Corliss family’s evidence, the author, Charles Pellegrino, now concedes that he was probably duped. . . . [H]e said he would rewrite sections of the book for paperback and foreign editions." Despite Pellegrino's claim in The New York Times that he had been "duped" by Fuoco, further investigation revealed that Pellegrino had repeatedly mentioned one of the book's most disputed claims (a supposed fatal accident at Tinian Island on 4 August 1945) before Mr. Fuoco had allegedly confided it for him.

On 1 March 2010, Henry Holt announced that it had halted publication of Last Train from Hiroshima as more questions arose about the veracity of the material. In particular, doubts arose about the existence of two westerners allegedly present in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing.

Doctoral degree
After doubts about Pellegrino's doctorate were raised, Victoria University spokespersons informed the Associated Press, The Weekly Standard, and The New York Times that Mr. Pellegrino did not have a Ph.D. from Victoria University.

In response, Mr. Pellegrino stated that the university had "stripped him of his Ph.D. because of a disagreement over evolutionary theory". The university told The New York Times and other news outlets that they were conducting an investigation into the matter. On 5 March 2010, The New York Times stated:

"In an e-mailed statement, Professor Pat Walsh, vice chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington, confirmed that Mr. Pellegrino had been a Ph.D. student in the 1980s.

“He submitted a thesis which in the unanimous opinion of the examiners was not of a sufficient standard for a Ph.D. to be awarded,” Mr. Walsh said. “Following complaints from Pellegrino, an investigation was carried out by the University. In 1986, Pellegrino appealed to Her Majesty the Queen. The case was then considered by the Governor-General who disallowed the appeal. Accordingly, Pellegrino was never awarded a Ph.D. from Victoria and therefore could not have had it stripped from him or reinstated at a later date.”"

Non-fiction

 * The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back (Henry Holt, 2010)
 * The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History (with Simcha Jacobovici, 2007)
 * Ghosts of Vesuvius: A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections (2004)
 * Ghosts of the Titanic (2000)
 * Return to Sodom and Gomorrah: Bible Stories from Archaeologists (1994)
 * Unearthing Atlantis: An Archaeological Odyssey (1991)
 * Her Name, Titanic: Untold Story of the Sinking and Finding of the Unsinkable Ship (1988)
 * Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Hidden Epidemic (with Jesse A. Stoff, 1988)
 * Chariots for Apollo: The Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon (with Joshua Stoff, 1985)
 * Time Gate: Hurtling Backward Through History (1983)
 * Darwin's Universe: Origins and Crises in the History of Life (with Jesse A. Stoff, 1983)
 * Interstellar Travel and Communication (with James Powell and Isaac Asimov, et al., 1986)

Fiction

 * Dyson Sphere (with George Zebrowski, 1999)
 * Dust (1998)
 * The Killing Star (with George Zebrowski, 1995)
 * Flying to Valhalla (1993)
 * The Fallen Sky (1982)

Filmography

 * Lost Civilizations: Aegean - Legacy of Atlantis - Time-Life / NBC (1995).
 * Re-released on October 1, 2002 as part of a 4-DVD set entitled Time Life's Lost Civilizations.


 * Ghosts of the Abyss. With James Cameron (2003).
 * Naked Science: Atlantis - National Geographic Channel (2004).
 * Aliens of the Deep. With James Cameron (2005).
 * The Naked Archaeologist: Joshua - History Channel. Hosted by Simcha Jacobovici (2006).
 * American Vesuvius - History Channel (2006).
 * Secrets of the Bible - National Geographic Channel (2006).
 * The Exodus Decoded - History Channel. With Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron (2006).
 * The Lost Tomb of Jesus - Discovery Channel. With Simcha Jacobovici (2007).
 * '' Three Ground Zeros, A Thousand Paper Cranes (2008)
 * '' A Jewish Home in Pompeii (History Channel, 2009)
 * '' The Last Train From Hiroshima (Japan TV, 2009)