SIS REVIEW Vol. V:1 Click here for cost
Electric Stars in a Gravity-Less Electrified Cosmos, by Dr. Earl R. Milton
Many problems are clarified and many concepts, such as ‘black holes’, are found to be unnecessary, when we assume that electricity, rather than gravity, is the major force governing the working of the universe. In an electrical universe processes would happen much faster and the catastrophic events envisaged by Immanuel Velikovsky would be likely. This article is based on the talk given by Dr. Milton at a meeting of the [SIS] on ‘Aspects of Catastrophism’, in April 1980, and forms a tribute to the works of the late Dr. C. E. R. Bruce and Ralph Juergens, pioneers in the development of electrical models for the universe.
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Dating the Wars of Seti I, by Dr. J. Bimson
The records of the campaigns of Seti I in northern Palestine show a close resemblance to the wars taking place in Israel under King Jehoahaz and pharaoh Seti could be directly referred to in the biblical account. This would date Seti to the late 9th century, and this suggested placement completes the outline for the XIXth Dynasty proposed in the ‘Glasgow Chronology’. While modifying Velikovsky’s original scheme, the arguments for this dating provide further support for Ages in Chaos. ……….
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Problems of Continental Drift
The editors of the Review are often asked by readers about Velikovsky’s attitude to the theory of continental drift. In Earth in Upheaval (chapter viii: ‘The Sliding Continents’) Velikovsky was highly critical of the theory and seemed to reject it in favour of vertical motions of land masses and the apparent movement of continents due to shifts in the Earth’s axis. …………………When Earth in Upheaval was republished by Pocket Books in 1977, Velikovsky felt some extra comment on continental drift was necessary. He adopted a cautious neutral position and chose to reserve judgement on the theory. For the benefit of readers who do not have the Pocket Book edition we reprint here – by kind permission of Mrs. Elisheva Velikovsky – the Foreword and Author’s Note from this new edition. We have also included, as an informed view of the ‘state of play’ with regard to drift theory, an article by Dr. Peter Smith, one of Britain’s foremost geophysicists. – Peter J. James.
A New Introduction to Earth In Upheaval, by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky
………I said that I would not revoke anything from the original edition. However, to one section I would like to make some pertinent remarks. By the 1950s, the hypothesis (1920) of A. Wegener about Drifting Continents gained in acceptance; …………..My position on continental drift was (and is) intermediary between those who reject this concept and those who support the idea …………..
‘Wegener’s Legacy’, by Peter J. Smith
……..it was Wegener who first drew the global evidence (including Taylor’s) together at length, in his book Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (1915); it was Wegener who was vilified by almost the entire geological community during the 1920s; it was Wegener whose influence was remembered when the tide began to turn in his favour, posthumously alas, during the 1950s; ……………
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SIS REVIEW Vol. V:2 Click here for cost
Science and Novelty, by Professor Bruno de Finetti [at the time Dr. Finetti wrote the article he was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Rome.]
Over a decade ago, Professor Bruno de Finetti gave a grave warning to scientists on the dangers of a narrow-minded and arrogant approach to new ideas, using the ‘Velikovsky Affair’ among his examples. As this warning seems as pressing today as when it was first given, we are reprinting it in our own translation.
…….. The Narrow-minded Hydra – At first sight, it may seem odd for us to assert that the situation of scholarship in general, and of scientific thought in particular, in the face of inexplicable phenomena and impending obstacles and dangers, has in no way improved with respect to the past. Looking back, famous episodes immediately spring to mind: Galileo, insisting that the Earth moved; Prometheus, persecuted for the theft of fire; ………… – not to mention trials of witches and the persistence of superstition, intolerance and acts of tyranny generally. …….. There is one form of narrow-mindedness which manifests itself in a hatred of novelty, for different reasons within the different branches of thought: this is an attitude of mind closed towards progress, ………….
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What’s in a Name? – Venus ‘The Newcomer’, by Malcom Lowery
Velikovsky has proposed support for his case regarding the late birth of the planet [Venus] in a reading of the name of the planet and goddess as ‘The Newcomer’ and a derivation from the Latin venire ‘to come’. This brief paper examines the support for this assumption.
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An Introduction to the Evidence of the Panchasiddhantika, Michael G. Reade
This sixth-century Hindu astronomical manual gives anomalous synodic periods for the planets Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, as seen from the Earth. A preliminary study of the work reveals possible evidence for a 360-day year sometime in the past.
The Panchasiddhantika is a Hindu manual of astronomy compiled by Varaha Mihira in about 550 AD. It is generally believed to employ an ‘epoch’ (base date for astronomical calculations) of 505 AD. …………… A one-time 360–day year is at least a possibility, even quite a strong probability – given that there seems to be no other satisfactory explanation for the origin of the man-made 360-degree circle. ………..
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A Dynamical Objection to Warlow’s Inversion of the Earth by Dr. Victor J. Slabinski
1. Introduction – Warlow (1978) has proposed that a relatively small torque applied to the Earth can cause it to invert on its spin axis in tippe-top fashion. The direction of spin in inertial space would not be changed much by the application of the torque, but the Earth’s geographic north and south poles would exchange places on the intertial spin axis. Relative to the Earth’s surface, the direction of spin would have changed. Because of the interest in Warlow’s hypothesis among proponents of a catastrophic evolution of the Earth, a detailed examination of the inversion dynamics has been performed. Three dynamical assumptions underlie his hypothesis …………
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The Anamolous Condition of Venus and the Origin of the Solar System, by V. Axel Firsoff
It is not only Velikovskians who have noted problems in explaining certain of the Venus findings on the basis of current theory. The suggestion reprinted here, though non-Velikovskian in viewpoint and time-frame, proposes a startling departure from orthodoxy.
The atmosphere and axial rotation of Venus present various problems. The usual assumption that planetary and satellite bodies must have lost their volatile constituents in function of their mass and distance from the primary appears to be basically sound and is satisfied by the planets at least up to Saturn and the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. Venus alone is out of step. Not only has it a more massive atmosphere than its own mass and position in the solar system would seem to warrant, but the rare gas abundances in that atmosphere and the ratios of radiogenic to non-radiogenic isotopes of argon in particular [1] appear to indicate that it is a primary atmosphere, whereas those of the Earth and Mars are secondary, having been acquired by the degassing of the interior after the loss of the original gas envelope. The hypotheses proposed [by space scientists] to account for this striking anomaly are distinctly unconvincing [2, 3]. Nor do they attempt to account for the slow retrograde spin of Venus. ……………………..
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SIS REVIEW Vol. V:3 Click here for cost
An Integrated Model for an Earthwide Event at 2300 BC, Part I: The Archaeological Evidence, by Moe M. Mandelkehr
The first part of a series of detailed articles presenting evidence from numerous fields (archaeology, climatology, geology, astronomy and mythology) pointing to a global catastrophe caused by an extraterrestrial body towards the end of the third millennium BC.
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An Earth Inversion Model, by Michael G. Reade
A further contribution to the controversy surrounding Peter Warlow’s Earth inversion theory – can experimental models help resolve the mathematical debate?
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SIS REVIEW Vol. V:4 Click here for cost
Cometary Catastrophes and the Ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky, by Dr. Victor Clube
The Society for Interdisciplinary Studies provided the first public platform for the controversial theories of two research astronomers, Drs. Victor Clube and Bill Napier, who for some ten years have been developing a new model for periodic cometary catastrophes.Their ideas are spawning controversy on two fronts. On the one hand they have challenged uniformitarian astronomers and Earth scientists with a well-argued case for recent extraterrestrially-caused catastrophes based on conventional …. celestial mechanics, while on the other they have provoked some Velikovskian scholars who see Clube and Napier’s work as an unncessary ‘dilution’ of the catastrophist scenario, as it rejects Velikovsky’s concept of large-scale changes in planetary orbits within historical times. Accordingly, their work should provide a valuable bridgehead for a new dialogue between catastrophists and uniformitarians. The following is a transcript of Dr. Clube’s talk to the Society clearly summarising their basic approach and developing further some of the speculations touched on …………….
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Velikovsky and His Heroes, by Martin Sieff
Martin Sieff’s highly original – and often provocative – analysis of Velikovsky’s writings demonstrates the error of those critics who seek to label Velikovsky as a biblical fundamentalist. A close examination of the literary and psychological clues in his writings shows that the personal motivations which may have helped shaped his work were actually far from being religious. The great religious leaders of the Old Testament, such as Moses and Elijah hardly figure at all in Ages in Chaos and Worlds in Collision. Instead, pride of place is given to three other figures, Isaiah, Ahab and Saul, the last two being notorious ‘sinners’ in the Old Testament. The prominence given to these three in Velikovsky’s work, as well as the ‘anti-hero’ Nebuchadnezzar, can be attributed to a strong nationalistic feeling, shared by his three biblical ‘heroes’. Velikovsky’s desire to restore Israel’s ignored national heroes and identify its ancient enemies, within the context of his historical reconstruction, is analysed against the background of the War years during which he wrote.
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The Years 763 and 687 BC, by Dr. John Bimson
The case for a major catastrophe having occurred in the year 687 BC is briefly reviewed and the idea that the 687 date is dependent on Assyrian chronology is shown to be in error. The date actually derives from Chinese evidence. Further, there seems to be no good evidence to postulate a global disaster in that year, the Chinese evidence suggesting no more than a meteor shower. However, Near-Eastern evidence does suggest that the years 763 and 701 BC may have seen fairly widespread upheavals.
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SIS REVIEW Vol. V:4
Cometary Catastrophes and the Ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky, by Dr. Victor Clube