Beyond Velikovsky: The History of a Public Controversy

by Henry H. Bauer

Since the appearance in 1950 of Worlds in Collision, Immanuel Velikovsky's radical theories of planetary physics have been the center of controversy. Beyond Velikovsky presents a detailed analysis of the entire Velikovsky affair, conclusively resolves the major misunderstandings and primary arguments between opposing camps, and leads us beyond to a more complete understanding of the scientific process itself.

Genres: Science

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Maurice Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immanuel Velikovsky raised considerable interest with his "Worlds in Collision" published in 1950. He proposed that Venus almost collided with Earth, then almost collided with Mars, sending Mars on a near collision with Earth. He based his assumptions upon the myths and legends of ancient peoples worldwide, believing that they described events they actually saw. Not understanding the physical universe, they misinterpreted what they saw and portrayed these events as mythical battles between "gods." Velikovsky's book challenged many theories held by scientists, particularly the theory that the solar system is stable and has been stable for a long time. Any change to the earth's surface occurred very slowly through ice-age glacial action. Before the scientific community could adjust to this challenge coming from someone outside their community (Velikovsky was a trained psychiatrist but erudite in other fields) Velikovsky published "Ages in Chaos" in which he challenged historians by claiming ancient Egyptian history is misdated by approximately six centuries. Then he published "Earth In Upheaval" in which he cited geological evidence to show that the earth's surface did not change slowly, but rapidly through apparently catastrophic events, such as tidal waves sweeping across entire continents.

A gifted writer, Velikovsky captured the imagination of many people in the 1950's, myself included. Unfortunately, he also deeply alienated the scientific community, bursting into their domain, so to speak, and challenging many theories they held. What ensued was a bitter debate between Velikovsky and the scientific community. Velikovsky spent the rest of his life defending his theories against people who often were unfair and punitive in their response to him. His defenders formed several societies and published some journals devoted to an analysis of his theories. At a time when Venus was believed to be a sister planet to the earth and might harbor life, Velikovsky claimed, based on his theories, that Venus was still cooling down from its near collisions. He believed Venus should have a very hot surface temperature compared to Earth. Later space probes proved him right. His theories also led him to predict the backward rotation of Venus, that Jupiter should be emitting radio waves, and several other predictions not held by scientists when he wrote his books. These predictions were later verified (although some other predictions were proven wrong). However, were the one proven right merely lucky guesses? Or was there some substance to Velikovsky's theories?

Bauer put together a thorough review of Velikovsky's impact on his readers, the immediate acceptance by of Velikovsky's thoughts by some. the immediate rejection and hostility by others. Bauer describes how new theories are traditionally developed, usually one proposition at a time, publishing it, gathering a consensus from peers before publishing the next proposition. Bauer felt Velikovsky bypassed the traditional procedures and presented his entire thesis, fully developed. Velikovsky also wrote for the lay audience rather than directly to professionals. I could see that Bauer, himself, would have been offended by Velikovsky's unorthodox procedures. Bauer states "In this house (of knowledge) that astronomers knew so well, there was a door of possible catastrophes that they never noticed. Velikovsky did the most infuriating thing in the world. He, a stranger, walked through this door." Velikovsky upstaged them in their own domain. This very interesting and well-written book presents a factual account of what happened when Velikovsky dropped bomb after bomb on established thinking.