Robert Atkins was a wonderful man and a revolutionist in this whole scenario. He wrote his first book on weight loss in 1978 and wrote many series of books in the follow up. He was himself a man having good weight and he learnt to loose that by consuming foods having low carbohydrates.
He died in 2004 when his work was at peak and most people were relying on his diet plans. There are unproved controversies that claim Atkins died because of his own diet plans.