Who is Hugh Akston?
The Key to Unlocking Atlas Shrugged
While Atlas Shrugged is widely acclaimed for defending capitalism – accolades for its theme of scientific innovation are sparse.
Recently published, Atlas Decrypted reveals the nomenclature and equation which Ayn Rand used to embed scientific innovation into the infrastructure of Atlas Shrugged.
This forensic literary study began when the author stumbled on a clue hidden in Dagny Taggart’s name. A decade followed to fully decrypt the entire buried literary code which Rand intricately embedded into the infrastructure of Atlas Shrugged.
Atlas Decrypted topics include: The hidden identity in Hugh Akston’s name. Dagny’s TWO unglamorous and revelatory names. The scientific method and Objectivism. Galt’s identity based on the accurate spelling of his surname. The heroic culture of technology innovation. The Man of Ore. The Philosopher’s Stone which works.
Many scholars and stewards of the Rand legacy believe that there is “nothing new to discover in Atlas Shrugged”.
Please consider the thesis in Atlas Decrypted and decide for yourself.
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”
—Carl Sagan
Christiane Munkholm was the Founding Executive Director (2013–2019) of Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute, a science research institute and biotechnology training academy. In 2019 she founded Munkholm Media LLC, a platform for publishing books and digital content related to science and art, which now includes a monthly newsletter, Cape Ann COSMOS.
She holds a doctoral degree in chemistry and has been granted eight U.S. patents during her career in technology innovation. Christiane is the parent of two adult sons and resides in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.
CHAPTER 1 – EXCERPT
A Second Dissertation and Decryption
In the sixty-plus years since publication of Atlas Shrugged the values espoused by the novel have been parsed and argued by a cottage industry of critics, organizations, and conferences that have generated countless books and commentaries. I unexpectedly joined their ranks after tripping over an anomaly in the novel.
During my years in graduate school in the latter half of the non-digital 1980s, I still enjoyed reading lengthy novels as my relaxation at the end of the day. Little did I know that during my evening respite away from the chemistry laboratory I would stumble on a “chemical” clue that would open a literary rabbit hole. I gradually came to realize that I had discovered never-before-reported data in Atlas Shrugged. And a new revelation about the novel’s construction.
My initial observation begot decades of detective work, as a significant pattern of symbols emerged from the complex, tightly woven novel. These observations became a background obsession in my life, as I labored alone to crack Rand’s buried metaphor. Finally, the two critical clues fell into place, and I understood Atlas Shrugged, for the first time.
The book in hand, Atlas Decrypted tells the detective story that eventually solved an equation, not a crime. And, it is a very particular equation, one that Rand enshrines as the internal engine within Atlas Shrugged. Yes, this is a bold claim. To prove my thesis, I am using the only method I trust: the scientific method. Deciphering the clues and writing this book eventually became a second dissertation in my life, begun in parallel with my formal chemistry dissertation, but stretching on for decades.
Skeptics have maintained that nothing remains to be discovered within the vault of Atlas Shrugged.
My data suggests otherwise.