Immanuel Velikovsky



Immanuel Velikovsky (Russian: Иммануи́л Велико́вский Born::10 June 1895 - Died::17 November 1979) was a Russian-born American Jewish trained psychiatrist, writer and independent scholar. In the 1950s he proposed a new interpretation of the evolution of the solar system, reinterpreting the events of ancient history, drawing on evidence from mythological accounts and histories and ancient traditions around the world that included the Bible and other religious and sacred texts. Velikovsky died in 1979 still vigorously defending his thesis and, putting up the fierce debate aside, there is no doubt that he cataloged a huge set of geological events that were certainly catastrophes.

Work
In his 1950 book Worlds in Collision, Velikovsky proposed that a near collision between the Earth and other planets of our Solar System caused catastrophic geologic events on Earth. He also sought to propose a short time scale for the history of the Earth. According to him, the planet Venus, was a relatively recent addition to the solar system. The planet would have been ejected from Jupiter, circled the Earth on a few occasions until it settled in its present orbit. In proposing this evolutionary history catastrophic for planet Earth, Velikovsky met considerable opposition in trying to publish his work. The opposition to his ideas was so virulent that geologists and astronomers pressured his publisher, Macmillan, so that it was forced to move the work to another publisher, not vulnerable to these pressures. Based on ancient calendars, Velikovsky considered that the 365-day year was a consequence of a disruption of Earth's orbit by gravitational encounters with Venus and Mars. Carl Sagan demolished this idea in his "Analysis of Worlds in Collision".

Books

 * (originally published in 1950)
 * (originally published in 1952 by Doubelday)
 * (originally published in 1955 by Doubelday)