Under the black ensign

Lafayette Ronald "L. Ron" Hubbard was an American science fiction author who developed a self-help system called Dianetics which was first published in 1950. Over the following three decades Hubbard developed his self-help ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals as part of a new religion he called Scientology. Hubbard's writings became the guiding texts for the Church of Scientology and a number of affiliated organizations that address such diverse topics as business administration, literacy and drug rehabilitation. Hubbard was a controversial public figure, and many details of his life are still disputed. Official Scientology biographies present him as a "larger-than-life" figure whose career is studded with admirable accomplishments in an astonishing array of fields. Many of these claims are disputed by former Scientologists and researchers not connected with Scientology, who have written accounts that are sharply critical of Hubbard.