Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe

Immanuel Velikovsky was once a household name now, he is almost completely forgotten. In April 1950, this obscure psychiatrist published a book under the sensational title 'Worlds in Collision', which set out to revolutionize humanity's understanding of both science and ancient history. Velikovsky undertook this task by using the literary heritage of humanity -- myths, legends, ancient artifacts -- to argue that Earth was subject to repeated near collisions with comets and neighboring planets and that the catastrophes recorded in Exodus, the Hindu Vedas, and Scandinavian lore were in fact real, attested to by the eyewitnesses of the past and dressed up in figurative language. Michael D. Gordin, a Professor in the History Department and Director, Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies at Princeton University, will speak on his book 'The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe'.

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