Immanuel Velikovsky facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Immanuel Velikovsky
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Immanuel Velikovsky at the 1974 American Association for the Advancement of Science Conference in San Francisco
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| Born | 10 June 1895 |
| Died | 17 November 1979 (aged 84) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
Immanuel Velikovsky (born June 10, 1895 – died November 17, 1979) was a Jewish, Russian-American doctor who studied the mind (a psychoanalyst). He was also a writer and believed in catastrophism, which means he thought Earth had experienced sudden, big disasters in the past.
He wrote several books that looked at ancient history in a new way. His most famous book, Worlds in Collision, was a bestseller in the U.S. in 1950. Velikovsky's ideas are often used as an example of pseudoscience, which means they are not accepted by most scientists.
His books used old stories and myths from different cultures, including the Old Testament from the Bible. He suggested that Earth had close encounters with other planets, especially Venus and Mars, a long time ago. These close calls, he believed, caused huge disasters. Velikovsky also thought that electric and magnetic forces played a big role in how planets move. He even suggested a different timeline for ancient Egypt, Greece, and Israel. This new timeline aimed to explain a period called the "dark age" and to match Bible stories with what archaeologists found.
Most experts did not accept Velikovsky's theories. However, his books were very popular with the general public. Many people felt that scientists treated him unfairly. The arguments and discussions about his work are often called "the Velikovsky affair."
Contents
Early Life and Education
Immanuel Velikovsky was born in 1895 in Vitebsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus). His family was well-off and Jewish. As a child, he learned several languages. He went to the Medvednikov Gymnasium in Moscow, where he was very good at Russian and math. He finished school with honors in 1913.
After school, Velikovsky traveled around Europe and visited Palestine. He briefly studied medicine in France and Scotland. Before World War I started, he returned to Russia. He then studied at the University of Moscow and became a doctor in 1921.
Working for Hebrew University
After becoming a doctor, Velikovsky moved to Berlin. His father helped him financially to publish two books of science papers translated into Hebrew. These books were called Scripta Universitatis Atque Bibliothecae Hierosolymitanarum. He even got the famous scientist Albert Einstein to help with the math and physics part. This project was important for starting the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The new university could trade copies of these books with other universities to get their publications.
In 1923, Velikovsky married Elisheva Kramer, who was a violinist.
Career as a Psychiatrist
From 1924 to 1939, Velikovsky lived in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. He worked as a doctor, focusing on general medicine, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis. He had studied psychoanalysis with Wilhelm Stekel, who was a student of Sigmund Freud. During this time, Velikovsky published about a dozen papers in medical and psychoanalysis magazines. He even wrote an early analysis of Freud's own dreams.
Moving to the U.S. and Becoming an Author
In 1939, as war seemed likely, Velikovsky and his family moved to New York City. He planned to spend a year researching a book called Oedipus and Akhenaton. This book was inspired by Freud's ideas and looked at whether the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten might have been the same person as the legendary Oedipus from Greek myths.
Velikovsky wanted to find proof of the Biblical story of the Exodus in Egyptian records. He found an old Egyptian document called the Ipuwer Papyrus. He thought it described events similar to the Plagues of Egypt from the Bible. Since experts usually dated this papyrus much earlier than the Exodus, Velikovsky felt he had to change the accepted timeline of ancient Egypt.
Soon after he arrived in the U.S., World War II began. Velikovsky then started to develop his big ideas about Earth's history and a new timeline. These ideas would make him famous. He spent the rest of the war researching and writing in New York City. He wanted to share his ideas with scientists and the public. In 1945, he privately printed two small papers summarizing his theories. He sent copies to university libraries and scientists, including the Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley.
In 1950, after many publishers said no, his book Worlds in Collision was finally published by Macmillan. Even before it came out, the book caused a huge stir. Magazines like Harper's Magazine and Reader's Digest wrote very positive articles about it. This caught the attention of Shapley, who strongly disagreed with Velikovsky's ideas. Shapley even threatened to stop universities from buying Macmillan's textbooks if they published the book. Within two months, the book was moved to another publisher, Doubleday. By then, it was already a bestseller in the United States.
In 1952, Doubleday published the first part of Velikovsky's new timeline, Ages in Chaos. Then came Earth in Upheaval (about geology) in 1955. In November 1952, Velikovsky moved to Princeton, New Jersey.
For many years, Velikovsky was not welcome at colleges and universities. But later, he started getting more invitations to speak. He gave lectures to very large crowds at universities across North America. In 1972, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation made a TV special about him, and the BBC made a documentary in 1973.
In the 1970s, Velikovsky spent a lot of time trying to answer his critics in the scientific world. He continued to travel and give lectures. He passed away in 1979.
His Main Ideas
Velikovsky's main ideas came from his research in the 1940s. He believed that:
- Earth has gone through huge natural disasters on a global scale. These happened both before and during human history.
- There is proof of these disasters in the Earth's rocks and in old archaeological sites. He thought many animal species died out suddenly, not slowly over time.
- Stories about these disasters are found in the myths, legends, and writings of all ancient cultures. Velikovsky pointed out how similar many of these stories were. For example, the story of a great flood is in the Hebrew Bible, in the Greek legend of Deucalion, and in the Indian legend of Manu. He thought that people later forgot these events were real and thought of them as just myths.
- These natural disasters were caused by Earth having close encounters with other objects in our Solar System. He suggested that planets like Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, and Mars moved differently in the past.
- To explain how these changes happened without breaking the laws of physics, Velikovsky suggested that electric and magnetic forces played a role in how planets move.
Some of the specific disasters Velikovsky suggested included:
- He thought the great Flood (Noah's Flood) was caused by a "proto-Saturn" body.
- He suggested that the planet Mercury was involved in the Tower of Babel event.
- He believed Jupiter caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
- He thought that close encounters with a "comet-like Venus" caused the Exodus events around 1500 BCE. He also linked this to the story of Joshua's "sun standing still."
- He believed close encounters with Mars caused problems in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.
Velikovsky published his ideas in several books:
- Worlds in Collision (1950) talked about the stories and myths related to the "Venus" and "Mars" disasters.
- Parts of his "Revised Chronology" were published as Ages in Chaos (1952), Peoples of the Sea (1977), and Rameses II and His Time (1978).
- Earth in Upheaval (1955) looked at geological evidence for global natural disasters.
A Different Timeline
Velikovsky believed that the standard timeline for the ancient Near East and classical world was wrong. He thought this was why the Bible stories didn't seem to match other ancient records. He also thought it explained the mysterious "Dark Ages" in Greece.
He moved many parts of the Egyptian timeline by hundreds of years. He called this his Revised Chronology. In his new timeline, the The Exodus happened at the same time as the fall of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. He also found many other connections between different historical periods, all the way up to the time of Alexander the Great. He argued that his new timeline removed the "Dark Ages" and proved that the biblical accounts of history were correct.
Most historians do not accept these ideas. However, other historians like David Rohl and Peter James have also tried to create their own revised timelines.
"The Velikovsky Affair"
Many scientists were very hostile towards Velikovsky, especially a campaign led by Harlow Shapley. Because of this, some people studied the conflict itself. One study, published as The Velikovsky Affair — Scientism Versus Science, suggested that academic fields didn't like people from outside their area sharing new ideas.
Velikovsky felt that the scientific press didn't give him a chance to defend his ideas. He said this made him a "suppressed genius" and compared himself to Giordano Bruno, a friar who was burned at the stake for his beliefs in the 16th century.
The arguments around Velikovsky's books might have helped bring back the idea of catastrophism in the late 20th century. However, some people who study catastrophism today believe that the negative "Velikovsky Affair" actually slowed down progress in their field.
Images for kids
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A friendly robot
See also
In Spanish: Immanuil Velikovski para niños
