Adam Rutherford

Institute of Pyramidology

Magazine cover – 1968

29/31 Station Road became in 1967 the address of the Institute of Pyramidology. It was the home of Adam Rutherford, founder of the Institute in London in 1940, who moved to Harpenden in 1967 and lived here until his death in 1974. Between 1957 and 1972 he published four large volumes devoted to establishing a link between the measurements of the pyramids of Egypt and theories about the Bible and the Lost Tribes of Israel. The present address of the Institute is in Chesham, Bucks.

Rutherford belonged to a sect known as the British Israelites, whose origins went back to the 17th century. Revived in 1864 by Charles Piazzi Smyth, the theory was that the West European races, and the British in particular, are descendants of the ten tribes of Israel exiled by the Assyrians. Smyth defined the ‘pyramid inch’ and used this to assert that various measurements taken on the Egyptian pyramids were found to match with some numbers mentioned in the Old Testament, including a prediction of the date of the end of the world in 1881, which had to be revised when the date passed without incident.

Flinders Petrie, who had measured the pyramids with greater accuracy than Smyth, dismissed the whole theory as nonsense, and later research on Bible texts showed that the supposed scriptural references were not relevant. Genetic research contradicted any assertion that the British had oriental origins. Whether there are many surviving adherents to the sect is not clear.

The pyramids have fascinated many people, and the term ‘pyramidology’ includes many fanciful theories, to be found in a number of internet articles.

29-31 Station Road – Gavin Ross 2015

Pyramids at Gizeh – Gavin Ross. 2013

Comments about this page

  • By Erlingur Thorsteinsson (12/11/2021)
  • Pyramidology V Ph.D. essay has been confirmed to be correct. Proving the Bible with Mathematics. Then came Covid19 and everything were stuck. Now in the year 2021 the essay has been confirmed but not defended. Hopefully this matter will be solved. Institute of Pyramidology has been setup in Iceland where Benjamin tribe is. Concerning Larry Pahl we met in Egypt 2020 and are in contract. This matter is in process.

    By Erlingur Þorsteinsson (11/09/2021)
  • Pyramidology V has been published 2019 and due Covid-19 matters have been delayed. Anyway I am on Facebook Institute of Pyramidology. This essay is in fact proving the Bible within claim of Science. 

    By Erlingur Thorsteinssonn (18/02/2021)
  • I have finished my Ph.D. essay Pyramidology V. Correcting errors and adding new information concerning this matter. And in fact, proving this matter. It is possible to contact through Facebook. 

    Copyright, is within the Institute which is in preparation here in Iceland. ET

    By Erlingur Þorsteinsson (18/12/2019)
  • Does anyone know who holds the copyright to the Pyramidology volumes by Adam Rutherford?

    Ed: it appears that the http://www.greatpyramid.org website is active again, so suggest that you try contacting Larry Pahl direct.

    By Russell Davis (11/04/2019)
  • When Rutherford’s son, who I had met and heard speak in the States, died an untimely death (auto accident) I knew that the world might lose an organized witness to the truth that the Great Pyramid is a revelation from God.  I was a young man with no money, and thought, I can’t afford to put out newsletters (like the IP did) and books, etc. But the internet was in its infancy, so I began the American Institute of Pyramidology (AIP) as an online witness to the truth of the Pyramid and as a conscious effort to keep the Institute of Pyramidology going, with an American homebase.  I am getting ready to retire and will revive the AIP more fully soon… hundreds of people have joined the AIP over the years, but the site has been unattended by me in recent years, so I have removed the membership possibility at the present time, until I restore the site and the Institute in the near future.

    http://www.greatpyramid.org 

    By Larry Pahl (15/11/2017)
  • Does anyone know if the Institute of Pyramidology is still functioning?  Also are there any living descendants of Adam Rutherford?  

    Please contact us through the website, and we will pass information on to Mr Davis, ed.

    By Russell Davis (05/06/2016)
  • A number of quite sensible Harpenden residents were British Israelites, including at least one in Roundwood Park.  At the time it did not seem so improbable as a belief.  We had an Empire that many people thought was still growing.  We had kept the peace for over a hundred years (subject to a few lapses). And the Treaty of Versailles had given us a Mandate to rule the Holy Land, which we kept with some difficulty until 1948.

    By John Wyborn (15/11/2015)

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