Elohim (אֱלֹהִ֔ים) is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or "powers". It is generally thought that Elohim is a formation from eloah, the latter being an expanded form of the Northwest Semitic noun il (אֱל, ʾēl ). It is usually translated as "God" in the Hebrew Bible, referring with singular verbs both to the one God of Israel, and also in a few examples to other singular pagan deities. With plural verbs the word is also used as a true plural with the meaning "gods". The related nouns eloah (אלוה) and el (אֱל) are used as proper names or as generics, in which case they are interchangeable with elohim.

Mark S. Smith said that the notion of divinity underwent radical changes throughout the period of early Israelite identity. Smith said that the ambiguity of the term Elohim is the result of such changes, cast in terms of "vertical translatability" by Smith (2008); i.e. the re-interpretation of the gods of the earliest recalled period as the national god of the monolatrism as it emerged in the 7th to 6th century BCE in the Kingdom of Judah and during the Babylonian captivity, and further in terms of monotheism by the emergence of Rabbinical Judaism in the 2nd century CE. A different version was produced by Morton Smith. Despite the -im ending common to many plural masculine nouns in Hebrew, the word when referring to the Name of God is grammatically singular, and takes a singular verb in the Hebrew Bible.

Zecharia Sitchin (July 11, 1920 – October 9, 2010) was an Azerbaijani-born American author of books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributes the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki, which he states was a race of extra-terrestrials from a planet beyond Neptune called Nibiru. He believed this hypothetical planet of Nibiru to be in an elongated, elliptical orbit in the Earth's own Solar System, asserting that Sumerian mythology reflects this view. Sitchin's books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 25 languages.

Sitchin's ideas were rejected by scientists and academics, who dismiss his work as pseudoscience and pseudohistory. Sitchin's work has been criticized for flawed methodology and mistranslations of ancient texts as well as for incorrect astronomical and scientific claims.

Sitchin was born in the then Azerbaijan SSR of the Soviet Union, but was raised in Palestine. He received a degree in economics from the University of London, and was an editor and journalist in Israel, before moving to New York in 1952. While working as an executive for a shipping company, he taught himself Sumerian cuneiform and visited several archaeological sites.

Petra Schneider (born 11 January 1963 in Karl-Marx-Stadt) is a former medley and freestyle swimmer from East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.

She won an Olympic gold medal in the 400 m individual medley at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and set five world records in swimming. She was named by Swimming World magazine as World Swimmer of the Year in 1980 and 1982, but her achievements are regarded with suspicion due to the state-run systematic doping program run by East Germany. She later admitted to having been doped.

In 2005 she called for her last remaining record (German national record in the 400 m individual medley) to be struck from the record books, because it was achieved with the aid of steroids.

Schneider came to prominence at the 1978 World Championships in Berlin, winning bronze in the 400 m individual medley behind arch-rival Tracy Caulkins of the United States with whom she shares the same birthday. Thereafter, she never lost to Caulkins again, repeatedly lowering Caulkins' world record in the event, three times in 1980 from 4:40.83 to 4:36.29 at the Moscow Olympics, which was boycotted by the United States. Her victory in the 400 m event left silver medallist Sharron Davies of the United Kingdom 10 seconds in arrears. She improved her record to 4:36.10 at Guayaquil in 1982 and it was not bettered until 1997.