VELIKOVSKY, Immanuel

(1895-1979)

   Russian-born US pseudo-scientist and writer. He is primarily known for a series of books putting forward, with a vast amount of documentation and argument, a theory of Earth's history which proposes that comparatively recent large-scale changes in the Solar System had catastrophic effects on the Earth, and that historical evidence (in the form of legends, MYTHOLOGY, the Bible and other accounts) exists for these. The books are Worlds in Collision (1950), Ages in Chaos (1952), Earth in Upheaval (1955) and Oedipus and Akhnaton (1960). In particular,Velikovsky claimed that the planet VENUS was a recent addition to the Sun's retinue, having been spat out by Jupiter in biblical times and then having swooped close to the Earth on several occasions before coming to rest in its current orbit: one effect of these near-misses was to make the Earth flip over on its axis. Making planets flip over in this way isextremely hard to do because of the gyroscope effect, and it was soon proven that his basic mechanism was infeasible. Nevertheless, the books are probably the most significant in 20th-century PSEUDO-SCIENCE.An apparent attempt by scientists to have IV's work censored is recounted in The Velikovsky Affair (anth 1966) ed Alfred de Grazia. A collection ofessays defending IV's science and pointing to the accuracy of many of his predictions (while, it has to be said, ignoring the inaccuracy of others) is Velikovsky Reconsidered (anth 1976) ed by the editors of Pensee. The proceedings of a scientific conference to discuss the affair are found in Scientists Confront Velikovsky (anth 1977) ed Donald Goldsmith. Anover-friendly overview of Velikovskianism is given in Doomsday: The Science of Catastrophe (1979) by Fred Warshovsky.In the early 1980s therewas a flurry of renewed interest in Velikovsky's ideas when it was proposed that flipping the Earth over on its axis might not be so difficult as had been thought. Various writers pointed to the childhood toy called the tippe-top which, when spun, easily turns over to stand on its head, apparently defying the gyroscopic effect. Probably the most significant book in this vein was The Reversing Earth (1982) by Peter Warlow, which described the tippe-top effect (and much else in support ofIV's ideas) in persuasive detail. The flaw in the argument is (to simplify) that the tippe-top effect works only if the tippe-top is placed on a surface (e.g., a table-top) in an appropriate gravitational field.Orthodox scientists have themselves proposed some quasi-Velikovskian ideas since the 1960s, reflecting a recognition that catastrophic changes caused by cosmic events may have played a greater part in our planet's history than hitherto recognized; in particular, it is now generally accepted that the extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago was the result of one such event. A type example of a disproved theory of this sort is supplied by The Jupiter Effect (1974) by John GRIBBIN and Stephen Plagemann, which predicted dire consequences from an unusualplanetary alignment and a peak of solar activity in 1982; Beyond the Jupiter Effect (1983) is rather more muted.IV's dramatic scenario ofplanetary near-misses parallels many of the catastrophic events described in sf; a notable fictional precursor is When Worlds Collide (1933) by Philip WYLIE and Edwin BALMER. Some of the few interesting sf novels inthe Velikovskian mode (there are countless bad DISASTER novels) are THE WANDERER (1964) by Fritz LEIBER, in which a singleton planet enters theSolar System, The HAB Theory (1976) by Allan W. ECKERT, in which the Earth flips on its axis, Lucifer's Hammer (1977) by Larry NIVEN and Jerry POURNELLE, in which the Earth is struck by a small comet, and Nemesis(1989) by Isaac ASIMOV, which focuses on the threat to Earth of a dwarf star on course for a close encounter with the Solar System.

   PN/JGr

   See also: ADAM AND EVE.