The Velikovskian

Back Issues and article summaries

Volume I Number 1 (1993)

Volume I, Number 2 (1993)

Volume I Number 3 (1993)

Volume I Number 4 (1993)

Volume II, Number 1 (1994)

Volume II Number 2 (1994)

Volume II Number 3 (1994)

Volume II Number 4 (1994)

Vol. III No. 1. (1997)

Vol. III No. 2 & 3. (1997)

The Extinction of the Mammoths (303pp) by Charles Ginenthal, is a special double-issue of the Velikovskian. Did the mammoths live in Alaska and Siberia during the Ice Age? Pollen research emphatically denies this. Could the bones, tusks, and bodies of mammoths have been buried gradually and preserved in the tundra? Recent studies prove this could not have occurred. Did the poles of the Earth shift, and is there fundamental evidence to prove this? Yes! Plant geography presents solid support that the orientation of the poles was less oblique when the mammoths roamed the Arctic.

The Extinction of the Mammoths outlines and explains the historical evidence and views of science on these problems and many, many others. It explores the scientific research over the past twenty-five years from numerous fields, and goes well beyond to expose the inept and contradictory data that indicates that gradualism has failed to explain this extinction.

Evidence rarely analyzed is introduced that no catastrophist researcher has ever presented, with hundreds of footnotes. For example, in the field of radiocarbon dating of extinction, research has never dealt with the phenomenon of the Seuss Effect, which introduced so much additional Carbon 12 and 13 to the atmosphere in those ancient times, that all dates pertaining to the extinction, derived by this method, should no longer be accepted. As another example, ice core research carried out in Greenland and Antarctica, as well as in Devil's Hole, Nevada, thoroughly discredits the Milankovitch theory as an explanation of Ice Ages. Iridium and other materials have been found in these ice cores that defy uniformitarian expectations. As Walter Broecker of the Lamont-Doherty Oceanographic Observatory states: "Climate Modelers should start preparing themselves for a world without Milankovitch."

  1. The Problem of the Extinction.
  2. The Age of Man in America.
  3. The Hunting or Blitzkreig Theory.
  4. The Climate Hypothesis.
  5. Arctic Tundra: Mammoth Steppe or Velikovskian Poleshift?
  6. The Environment and Preservation of the Mammoth.
  7. Radiocarbon Dating the Extinction.
  8. Poleshift.
  9. Uniformitarian or Catastrophist? Ice Age Theory.
  10. Poleshifts, Catastrophes and Myths.

Vol. III, No. 4. (1997)

Vol. IV, No. 1 (1998).

Vol. IV, No. 2. (1998)

Vol. IV, No. 3. (1999)

The Electro-Gravitic Theory of Celestial Motion & Cosmology
(A Special Issue of The Velikovskian, by Charles Ginenthal)
Hard cover, 154pp, ISBN 0-9639759-0-3

Electro-Gravitic Theory of Celestial Motion & Cosmology presents a revolutionary explanation of celestial motion which challenges Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity and Isaac Newton's view that gravity and intertia are the only forces which generate celestial motion.

Employing Electro-Gravitic Theory, Charles Ginenthal maintains that celestial bodies exhibit systematic behavior not explained by traditional theory. This theory posits the concept that electromagnetism is a counter force to gravity which can be fully tested in space.

This cosmological theory challenges nearly all the established explanations for the birth, evolution, and death of galaxies, as well as the birth, evolution and death of stars. The hallmark of the theory is that is explains these cosmological processes strictly in terms of entropy, or the Second Law of Thermodynamics. No area of cosmology is left as it stands today. For example, planet formation, as envisioned by the Nebular Theory, is rejected for a theory that planets are captured bodies and that the Solar System, as Immanuel Velikovsky suggested, has a history of instability from early times.

This Motion Theory can be tested in space by placing a highly magnetic, low-mass ball outside the Earth's magnetosphere in a highly circular orbit and observing if there is a change of that orbit. If there is any change in the orbit, it will either demonstrate the validity of the theory or destroy it. The evidence is laid out in clear, understandable terms with footnotes and a scientific Appendix which formulates the experiment to be carried out in space.

For those interested in a radically new explanation of cosmology, this theory shatters all traditional concepts.

Contents

Vol. IV, No. 4. (1999)

  1. Sean Mewhinney's Critique Based on Bombastic Subterfuge, Evasion and Denial
    Hyprocrisy * Ice Cores or Crystalline Spheres * Oxygen Isotope Layers, Snow Layering or Diffusion Layering * Corroboration or Disconformation of Ice Cores from Volacanic Material in Ice * Varves as Corroboration or Disconformation of Ice Cores * Heinrich Layers and the Greenland Ice Cores * Dendrochronology and Varves and Greenland Ice Cores vis a vis The Younger Days * Ice Modeling vs. Reality * Contradiction between the Different Ice Cores * Gas Evidence Culled by Glaciologists * Conclusion to Ice Cores
  2. Ice Age Milankovitch or Epicycles
    The Marine Chronology and Milankovitch * Hemispheric Negation of Milankovitch * Velikovsky on Milankovitch and Milankovitch on Milankovitch * The Equatorial Region and Milankovitch
  3. Pole Shifts and the Arctic Ocean Ice Cover
    Mewhinney: Models and Mollusks * Mewhinney: Majority Modeling and Minority Status * Mewhinney's Coup de Grace or Coup de Theatre
  4. Decades of Darkness and Dendrochronology
  5. Botanical Fantasies
    Evidence of a Pole Shift from the Black Crowberry Bush * Peat Bogs, Trees and E. Nigrum
  6. Mapping Bombastic Evasion, Denial and Subterfuge
  7. The Ellenberger and Internet Debunkers

    Article summaries

    Analysis Of Old World Maps by Charles Ginenthal
    In "Old World Maps--A Response to Charles Ginenthal," Norman Schwarz's critique of my article, "Common Sense About Ancient Maps"Charles Ginenthal, "Common Sense About Ancient Maps," The Velikovskian I: 2 (New York, 1993): 7-17. he contends that the longitude of the Oronteus Finaeus map of 1532 is the same as that of Ptolemy's World Map; the Papal Bull Inter Caetera of May 4, 1493; Robert Thorne's map of 1525; the Mercator World Map of 1538 and the Reimal Map. Therefore, since each of these maps correlates with the original draft of the Oronteus Finaeus map, showing the Prime Meridian of longitude, one can extrapolate from these agreements as to the time and place of the map's creators and place the original map maker in Mesopotamia of ancient historical time. By further extrapolation, Schwarz calculates to the Vernal Equinox and retrocalculates the precession of the North Pole back to that period and place. Schwarz concludes that these agreements show that there has been no change in either longitude or latitude, as Velikovsky's theory requires, and that his catastrophes cannot be real--based on these measurements. But no one can know when the map was drawn nor can one say, with certainty, where it originated. This, in itself, casts doubt on the assumption Schwarz makes of the map's time and origin.
    Analysis of Old World Maps, Part II: Ice Core Evidence by Charles Ginenthal
    The same tactic of ignoring data comes from evidence about ice cores. For example, Fred Hall long ago pointed out, contrary to the ice core dating advocates views, that seasonal variations of Oxygen 16 compared to Oxygen 18 in layers of ice are not related to climate.
    Ancient Near Eastern Chronology Revised by Gunnar Heinsohn
    I will elaborate on the fatal flaw of the archeologies from Egypt to the Indus Valley by focusing on the Mitanni, which are conventionally dated to the -15th/ -14th century. As might be known, the Mitanni are quite a recent acquaintance to history: "The kingdom of Mitanni was completely forgotten for millennia until discoveries in the [19th] century revealed its name and existence."
    Before the Day Breaks -- A Perspective by Charles Ginenthal
    "Before the Day Breaks" is a memoir of the relationship Velikovsky shared with Albert Einstein, of the debate over the history of the solar system and the Earth, and the significant role played by electromagnetism in celestial motion.
    Calendars Revisited by Lynn E. Rose
    The 84 theses that constitute the main part of this paper are intended as a guide for those who want a better grasp of the interrelationships of various ancient calendars, especially insofar as they have a bearing upon the work of Immanuel Velikovsky.
    Checking the Checkered Checker by George R. Talbott
    Given that a body leaves the Moon at a velovity of 1 kilometer per second, or 100,000 centimeters per second, how far, directly upwards, will it have travelled at the end of 1 second? A similar question arises when seeking the distance and time relations for a bullet fired towards zenith with a muzzle velocity, in this case, of 1 kilometer per second, while working against gravity. The problem is relatively elementary in physics, but it is worth solving. Mistakes are often made, even by professionals, in solving problems of this kind, thus no mockery and derision are called for.
    Chz And Solar System Stability by Charles Ginenthal
    In 1984, C. Leroy Ellenberger raised the issue of the "Continuously Habitable Zone" (CHZ) as an argument against placing the Earth in an orbit closer to the Sun than that of Venus.. What Ellenberger has not taken into account in his presentation is the definition of the CHZ.
    Common Sense about Ancient Maps by Charles Ginenthal
    If Ellenberger and Mewhinney's evidence, derived from ice cores of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps, is truly valid, it would be completely impossible for ancient man to have mapped these large land masses accurately--specially the topography. Ancient man could not have done so because Greenland and Antarctica had to have been buried beneath ice thousands of feet thick; there would have been no way to see this topography since ice and snow covered it and had given it somewhat the form of a mesa. This is especially true for Greenland and only partially true for certain regions of Antarctica. Mountain ranges, valleys, bays, etc., would have all been covered under thousands of feet of ice and snow. However, there are ancient maps of Greenland and Antarctica known to exist for a long time, which, if accurate in terms of the location of these regions--with respect to latitude and longitude and to topography--would prove that the ice caps are not ancient. If these ice caps formed after Velikovsky's catastrophic scenario, then the ice cores and the evidence analyzed from them by the glaciologists is based on a false premise and is not a test of Velikovsky's hypothesis.
    Comparing Magnetic Fields: Neptune And Uranus by Charles Ginenthal
    The situation [regarding planetary magnetism] is perhaps best described by planetary theorist David Stevenson, who says: "While planetary dynamo theorists have yet to be able to predict anything about planetary magnetism, they have been able to rationalize all the observations." [T]he nature of the source of planetary magnetic fields still remains one of the principal unsolved problems of geophysics.Pioneer Venus, eds. R. O. Fimmel, L. Colin and E. Burgess, NASA SP461 (Washington, DC, 1983), p. 154. The geophysicists' rationalization to explain planetary magnetism can be seen in how several findings, contradictory to the theory, were made to fit the dynamo hypothesis. For example, most dynamo theorists expected that Mercury, which rotates on its axis in about 58.6 days--which is quite slow, and is a massively small, internally cold planet--would not possess any magnetic field whatsoever.
    The Cornell Lecture: Sagan On A Wednesday by Lynn E. Rose
    In order to feel the depths of antagonism that some astronomers feel toward Velikovsky, let us examine a lecture by Carl Sagan, one of the leading expositors and popularizers of current astronomical dogma. Sagan's lecture was given just a little less than a year before the Symposium of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (A.A.A.S.) in San Francisco, at which he was billed as Velikovsky's principal opponent. We will examine this lecture in some detail, since it presents many of the same themes and claims that resurfaced at the A.A.A.S. Symposium in February of 1974--and on other days as well.
    Dark Matter by Charles Ginenthal
    Nothing so disturbs or infuriates the astronomical community as the concept proposed by Velikovsky, that gravity may not be the only fundamental force governing celestial motion. When Velikovsky proposed this, he asserted a belief that the foundation stone of all astronomical and cosmological thought was in error and brought upon himself unending rage and furor. Velikovsky had questioned that which had always been assumed to be beyond question and settled for all time.
    Early History Of The Israelite People by Gunnar Heinsohn
    At the 40th Rècontre Assyriologique Internationale in Leiden, Holland, I obtained Dr. Thomas L. Thompson's Early History of the Israelite People, an erudite historical work. I believe the book gets very close to correctly portraying the problems of Israelite history given that historical narratives of biblical Israel were written in the Persian and Hellenistic periods Thus, it is extremely difficult to select the portions of the history which really correspond to the evidence and, therefore, can possibly be matched with the archeological strata in Israel (or "Palestine," in Thompson's terminology). This basic problem is, as one can recognize, aggravated by the lack of a reliable chronology which can be applied to the actual strata in the ground. Only a sound combination of stratigraphy and chronology will provide "an independently derived history,"in comparison to which the biblical narratives can be made to yield a history of ancient Israel.
    The Emerging Revision of Ancient History: Recent Research by Martin Sieff
    Was Shishak of the Bible really Thutmose III, as Immanuel Velikovsky claimed? Or was he really Ramses II, as claim Peter James, David Rohl and other proponents of the historical model long pushed by publishers of the British-based Catastrophism and Chronology Review? Did the Exodus occur at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, as they argue and John Bimson argue, and as Velikovsky himself believed? Or did it take place earlier, at the end of the Early Bronze Age, as Dono-van Courville, Tom Chetwynd, Stan Vaniger, Emmett Sweeney, Brad Aaronson and I have argued?
    The Flood, Charles Ginenthal
    One of the problems in Velikovskian research has been the ability to dinstinguish between catastrophes that occurred close in time to another. It is also difficult to distinguish time frames of worldwide floods. Immanuel Velikovsky documented mythological and geophysical evidence of a worldwide flood occurring 3,500 years ago. He also spoke of earlier catastrophes that produced immense global floods; such floods would have left distinctive evidence. The evidence I present [in the article] is a mélange of data regarding more than one global flood.
    Giants in the Earth by Ted Holden
    Most of the evidence presented in support of the Saturn Myth concept is either historically and heavily dependant upon interpretations of mythological and classical themes, or of a highly theoretical nature. Do we have any more concrete evidence, and real way of knowing or of proving that the Saturn Myth scenario is actually required for any of the physical evidence of past ages? I believe that we do, that a careful study of the sizes of antediluvian creatures and of what it would take to deal with such sizes in our world -- the felt effect of gravity being what it is now -- indicates that something was massively different in the world which these creatures inhabited. I believe that something like the Saturn Myth is positively required to explain what turns up upon such a careful investigation and that there are, at least, four categories of evidence which suggest that the super animals of Earth's past could not live in our present world at all, due to what must have been a change in perceived gravity.
    Graincollections: Humans' Natural Ecological Niche -- A Review by Roger W. Wescott
    Sergio Treviño is an independent-minded scholar who has made use of two troublesome anomolies of primate evolution to create a highly original model of homonid phylogeny. The first of these anomolies is the total absence of chimpanzee and gorilla remains from the fossil record of Quaternary Africa. The second is the apparent ineffectiveness of pre-Levalloisian choppers and hand-axes as weapons of the chase or butchering tools.
    Hardy, Tess, and Psychic Scotoma by Duane Leroy Vorhees
    Tess of the d'Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy's thirteenth, and penultimate novel... He is regarded as one of the few really important late 19th century British writers of fiction... And so, it is quite a puzzling why, towards the end of one his most mature works, he would have restored repeatedly to the clumbsy, melodramatic device of non-recognition whenever Tess is approached by her nemesis, d'Urberville... It is my contention that his apparent aberation was... a literary depiction of an important by neglected area of psychological phenomenon... what Immanuel Velikovsky called mental scotoma.
    The History of The Revisionist Debate: A Personal View by Martin Sieff
    It is now 11 years since Immanuel Velikovsky published Ages in Chaos, Vol. 1, 21 years since the magazine Pensee inaugurated serious debate on Velikovsky's scientific and ancient history theories in the United States, and over a decade since Ramses II and His Time and Peoples of the Sea were published, putting on public record Velikovsky's solution to the "lower end" of his historical model.
    Ice Core Evidence, Charles Ginenthal
    The debate over ice core data has spanned many years. I have reexamined the record and analyzed the evidence in terms of Velikovsky's scenario. What I have found is that his critics, who have raised this ice core evidence, have based their objections on uniformatarian concepts and have ignored Velikovsky's scenarios. In reality, the data supports Velikovsky's catastrophic scenario and contradicts the uniformatarian interpretation completely.
    Indeterminacy: Temporary, Permanent, or Indefinite?
    by Roger W. Wescott In his letter of January 12, David Talbott urges that catastrophists "reach a stronger consensus on the key symbols and themes" of myth. Whether dealing with mythic tradition or with other sources of evidence, most members of the Canadian Society of Interdisciplinary Studies (CSIS) and most KRONOS readers, I think, assume that protohistoric disruptions of global scale were exogenous catastrophes--that is, disasters of extraterrestrial origin. While I share this belief, I am impressed by the fact that the most complete compendium of catastrophist mythology that I have yet seen, Brendan Stannard's Origins of Israel, takes an endogenist position, attributing ancient man's collective distress to recurrent seismicity of wholly terrestrial origin.
    Interviewing Immanuel Velikovsky: An Introduction by Robert Nichol
    Early in 1973, I was invited to participate in a film which was to be an educational program on Immanuel Velikovsky, directed by Bill Mason, a distinguished National Film Board of Canada (NFBC) filmmaker. (He had won many awards including two Academy Award nominations.) Bill was receiving much internal criticism over the project and was asked for my support. Mason had already shot Velikovsky's lecture at Harvard (1972?). This filming had to overcome much opposition from both outside and inside the NFB to be achieved. I garnered support within the NFB because of my solid reputation as a filmmaker and on the strength of a fair hearing for the man. I got deeply involved in the Velikovsky thesis and ended up filming the A. A. A. S. conference "Velikovsky's Challenge to Science" in San Francisco in 1974, which included an interview with Carl Sagan and Ivan King--the symposium moderator. By now, Mason, with other projects on his plate, had dropped out and I was the sole filmmaker.
    In The Beginning--A Review by Charles Ginenthal
    Over the years, anyone who has followed the discussions and debates surrounding Immanuel Velikovsky's vision of the solar system may have wondered, when, if ever, his unpublished works would see the light of day... In the Beginning deals with events that preceded those narrated in Worlds in Collision, and, if the hue and cry against that first book is any indication of how the intelligentsia respond to revolutionary concepts, one may possibly fathom how much greater will be the outcry against this book, which is based on the supposition that the great Noachian deluge was a reality. It was thus, according to Velikovsky in his Introduction, "preferable to start from the better known [catastrophe] and then proceed to the less known." What Velikovsky meant, of course, was to begin with the better documented catastrophes, especially Venus and Mars, and then to those that came earlier, namely, the Great Saturnian debacle.
    Is Space a Superconducting Medium? by Charles Ginenthal
    Do magnetic fields, when they meet in the super-cold environment of space, also repel each other? Is space a superconducting medium? This one is a difficult question to answer without experimental data from space to either confirm my hypothesis or deny it. Nevertheless, there are certain phenomena in space that appear to make this supposition correct. If space is a superconducting medium (by space I mean interplanetary and interstellar space) then all magnetic fields that we know about will repel each other. This, of course, can be observed with all planetary magnetic fields and the field of the Sun. The Sun's magnetic field repels the magnetic fields of all the planets.
    James Hutton: A Non-Inductive, Theological Catastrophist by Charles Ginenthal
    It has been said that "history is the lie agreed upon" and that "the victors write history." This is especially true with respect to the doctrine of uniformity, promulgated in the last century by James Hutton and Charles Lyell. With the acceptance of their doctrine came a historical revision in science--from catastrophism to uniformitarianism--that directed research along gradualist paths which admitted no major violent breaks in the geological record. The concept, in 1950, was so deeply entrenched that, when Immanuel Velikovsky offered his catastrophic theory in Worlds in Collision it was met with a belligerent outcry of passion. What Velikovsky had revived was the old debate which, in establishment uniformitarian circles, was regarded as settled for all time. Every piece of evidence presented by Velikovsky in Earth in Upheaval to support his concept was explained away by his uniformitarian opponents as they invoked ad hoc gradualist models. When this could not be done, as, for example, to explain away a 1300-foot beach in the Andes mountains and other high beaches elsewhere, without numerous intermediate beaches between them and the sea, the geologist and geophysicist critics ignored this evidence in unison--thereby denying the facts to themselves. Velikovsky's correct celestial predictions, which ran counter to the prevailing expectations of the astronomical community, were also treated this way.
    June 15, 762 BCE: A Mathematical Analysis of Ancient History by Robert T. Russell
    The core proposition to be discussed in this chronological treatise is that Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky's date of February 26, 747 BCE, for the cataclysm of the ancient 8th century, is not correct. To be precise, this cosmic and geological upheaval took place on June 15, 762 BCE, the traditional date of the so-called "Great Eclipse."
    The Kensington Runestone, John Whittaker and THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER (Part I) by Alice Miller
    What follows is a brief historical background of the Norsemen, their voyages to the Western Hemisphere, their settlements in Greenland, and their life in the very heart of America, before Columbus. It is well to note that some detractors of the Kensington runestone imply that there is no real record of the Norse voyages to Vinland, as they originally survived only in sagas.
    A Lowering Chronology for the Twelfth Century Dynasty, Lynn E. Rose
    The purpose of this paper is simply to call the reader's attention to some unexpected, but very important, developments that have come about in connection with my work on the calendars of Hellenistic and Roman Egypt.
    Measurements of the Electromagnetic Properties of "Space "by George R. Talbott and Charles Ginenthal
    The following proposal has been submitted to the European Space Agency as a test of Electro-Gravitic theory. The electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability of "free space" are handbook values used daily in electrical engineering. Once vacuum permittivity is measured, the associated permeability is fixed and the inverse of the square root of their product is the free space velocity of light. It is commonly assumed that permittivity and permeability in remote space are constant and equal to the labo-ratory handbook values. It is also commonly believed that both magnetic and elec-trical field intensities are negligible and unvarying as functions of spatial position, as long as the electromagnetic sensing apparatus is in remote space, far removed from any planetary or other source. It is further assumed that the constant of gra-vitation, the so-called "proportionality constant," relating gravitational attractive force to the Newtonian product of masses divided by the square of the distance separating the mass centroids, is totally unrelated to electrical quantities such as electrical charge. Since inertial navigation, celestial mechanics and the dramatically successful control of the trajectories of space vehicles do not require the explicit use of any electrical terms, this final assumption appears to be above educated criticism.
    The Method of Science by James E. Oberg
    A letter to Charles Ginenthal, a critique of "The Moon in Upheaval".
    Mind and its Methods: A Reflection On Neurotic Science by Antoinette Mann Paterson
    Traditionally, the term "mind" has been used in opposition to the term "matter." Therefore, the material experience of human beings has not readily been understood as the rudder for human logic. Aristotle had taught that "Man is a rational animal," and that some human beings had intellectual virtue while others had merely moral virtue. Those with moral virtue were still in the animal nature and led lives of conflict and indecision. Practice and imitation were the ways in which these merely moral humans would find balance and service.
    The Moon In Upheaval by Charles Ginenthal
    ..it appears that the evidence derived from lunar exploration cannot be used to support any theory of the Moon's structure, let alone Velikovsky's. However, this is not the case. If the Moon was subjected to great tidal distortions by the close approach of a planetary body as massive as Venus, then clear, straightforward evidence for such a recent event should exist from the center of the Moon to its surface regolith. The number of phenomena pointing to this fact will be outlined. We will also find that the concepts contrary to this evidence are all subject to "Urey's Law," which only rarely applies to Velikovsky's hypothesis.
    The Nature of Venus' Heat by Charles Ginenthal
    Ever since 1956, when the American team of radio astronomers from the U.S. Naval Research laboratory, headed by Cornell H. Meyer, discovered that "the surface of Venus is hot--far hotter than anyone had previously imagined,"Carl Sagan and Iosif S. Shklovskii, Intelligent Life in the Universe (New York, 1966), p. 319. (Emphasis added.) which fits Immanuel Velikovsky's hypothesis that Venus was a newborn planet in the early cool-down stages of its development, the scientific community--and, in particular, the astronomers--sought a non-Velikovskian, non-catastrophist explanation for this surprising finding. It was and still is unthinkable to these upholders of a stable solar system that Venus could be a recently born, newly acquired member of the solar system's family.
    Oberg's Unscientific Method by Charles Ginenthal
    A response to "The Method of Science" by James E. Oberg
    Old World Maps--A Response To Charles Ginenthal by Norman Schwarz
    Charles Ginenthal's article, "Common Sense About Ancient Maps", in Vol. 1, No. 2 of The Velikovskian adduced evidence that various Renaissance and earlier world maps were really the product of an old, but historical civilization that went back to a time before the present polar ice reformed. He issued a challenge to anyone who could present evidence of the validity of these old maps. This essay answers his challenge using only specific information from reputable scholars, scientifically measured data, primary arithmetic and the maps themselves.
    The Origin of The Moon by Charles Ginenthal
    The origin of the Moon has been an extremely controversial problem among astronomers and geophysicists for a long time. There are, at present, four major theories under consideration by members of the astrophysical community. Each of the four groups of advocates has been attempting to show that the evidence for its position is strongest and that the other concepts are fundamentally unfounded. In this contest of hypotheses, Velikovsky has interpreted the mythology and arrived at the conclusion that the Moon was captured recently by the Earth and set into its present orbit.
    Proof of a Celestial Counterforce to Gravity by Charles Ginenthal
    The conservation laws required that "[i]n a closed [gravitational] system, such as the solar system or an isolated star [system], there is always conservation of [angular] momentum."Valerie Illingworth, ed., The Fact on File Dictionary of Astronomy, rev. ed. (New York, 1985), p. 12. For example, if one of the planets were to approach another closely, accelerating to escape velocity so as to leave the solar system, it would take gravitational energy away with it--in this case, angular momentum. The solar system would have less of this energy and would, in some way, have to collapse inward because it had lost this energy.
    Pseudo-Scientists, Cranks, Crackpots and Henry Bauer by Charles Ginenthal
    In Beyond Velikovsky, the History of a Public Controversy, (Chicago, 1984), page 152, Henry Bauer, the author, states, "Pseudo-scientists, crackpots, cranks--these are pejorative terms. If we can show an idea to be wrong why not leave it at that? Why insult the man who put forward the idea?" This sounds quite balanced and is an admirable way of discussing scientific issues that are being debated. The only problem with this assertion is that Bauer does not follow this course of action at all in his discussion of Velikovsky.
    Puzzles of Prehistory by Roger W. Wescott
    ..prehistory is generally considered the predocumentary record of humanity. Humanity, in turn, is construed as meaning the family Hominidae, especially the genus Homo, and, above all, the species sapiens. In this essay, I will focus primarily on that part of prehistory which covers the period of human existence. But, because our species, like all others, is embedded in a space-time matrix, I will draw, as need arises, on the records of both the pre-human and the human past.
    Reflections of The Persian Wars by Charles Ginenthal
    This article is a continuation of research into Professor Gunnar Heinsohn's hypothesis Charles Ginenthal, "The Sargonid Mirror," privately circulated paper (April, 1987). presented in Sumerians and Akkadians Never Existed.Gunnar Heinsohn, Sumerians and Akkadians Never Existed (University of Bremen, 1986). One of the claims Professor Heinsohn makes is that the 11 kings of the First Babylonian Dynasty are the alter egos of the real 11 kings of the Persian Dynasty.Ibid
    Response to Raspil, Charles Ginenthal
    The premise for Charle's Raspil's theory is that, from the ancient past to medieval times, planetary conjunctions led to solar system instability. Raspil believes that the conjoining planets would slip from their orbits and enter new ones -- thus frightening the human race, then would resume their original orbits at the appropriate point in time. Although this would solve the problem of the conservation of angular momentum for such errant orbital motions, it does not answer why such instabilities occurred in the first place.
    Revisiting the Temperature of Venus by George R. Talbott
    In KRONOS IV: 2 (1978), I presented a computational procedure and a complete, workable computer program for determining the time-varying temperature of a candescent body exfoliated from a larger body in space. The methods I used are well-known and used daily in engineering heat transfer predictions. They give accurate results. As is appropriate for a professional scientist, I clearly and completely disclosed my methods and my reasoning. There were no unexplained generous assumptions or references to exotic, inaccessible techniques or information. My paper constitutes proof that the temperature of Venus is a result of internal heat, not of a greenhouse effect, and I was able to deduce, accurately, the surface temperature of Venus, assuming a candescent state of the planet some 3,500 years ago. I used Velikovsky's time scale and his historical evidence that Venus was candescent at the origin of that scale. My other information was conventional, universally accepted in physics. I came up with the present surface temperature of Venus using this combination of quantities.
    Scientists, Journalists And Editors as Suppressors by Charles Ginenthal
    The Skeptical Inquirer has been in the forefront of debunking nearly everything contrary to the Scientific Establishment's views of what science and pseudoscience are. Immanuel Velikovsky's work is one of the targets. On at least four occasions, the journal has presented highly negative articles against Velikovsky's theory. Years ago, I tried to have a critique published, in this journal, about Carl Sagan's evaluation of Velikovsky's theory. Sagan's evaluation had originally been published in The Humanist. My submitted analysis, which was not published, though very brief, showed that Sagan's statements against Velikovsky's work were thoroughly contradicted by other statements he had made.
    Scientists, Journalists and Editors as Suppressors by Charles Ginenthal
    The general public does not know that the Velikovsky Affair has not ended... In 1990, I privately published Carl Sagan and Immanuel Velikovsky, which exposed the wholesale misrepresentations that Sagan had presented to the public to criticize Immanuel Velikovsky's hypothesis. After selling enough of my stock to break even for my costs, I was able to distribute many copies to libraries and to a few outlets. About two years ago, I decided to place an advertisement for my book in Mercury, a journal published in California. Mercury has a circulation of 50,000 and a reasonable rate for a full page advertisement. [I was] informed that. the only criteria for rejecting my ad was simply that the book had not gone through the process of refereed publishing.
    Scientific Dating Methods in Ruins by Charles Ginenthal
    In 1669, the distinguished English physicist, Robert Hooke, made a wonderful discovery. He obtained the long-sought proof of Copernicus' heliocentric theory of the solar system by demonstrating stellar parallax--a perceived difference in [the] position of a star due to the Earth's motion around the Sun. One of the first to use a telescope for this purpose, Hooke observed the star Gamma Draconis and soon reported to the Roy-al Society that he had found what he was looking for: The star had a parallax of almost [30] seconds of arc. Here, at last, was impeccable experimental proof of the Copernican theory.
    Spatters and Planetary Iconography, Charles Raspil
    A manefestation appearing in both religious and mythical art worldwide, from the middle of the second millenium BC through the 18th century AD... which I call a spatter... its random distribution and appearance, along with its nonuniform configuration, suggest that is is a natural phenomenon and not an artistic symbol.
    Starbaby by Dennis Rawlins
    They call themselves the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. In fact, they are a group of would-be debunkers who bungled their major investigation, falsified the results, covered up their errors and gave the boot to a colleague who threatened to tell the truth. Ever since it came into being, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) has proudly proclaimed itself the scourge of the "new nonsense": astrology, ESP, UFOs and other phenomena of which it does not approve. Its pronouncements on these and other subjects have received widespread attention and uncritical acceptance in the news media.
    Trisms And Planetary Iconography by Charles Raspil
    According to Velikovsky, a long period of planetary chaos ended with stabilizing finality in 687 BC. Concentrating on celestial events occurring after that date, I have been finding iconographic and literary evidence that periods of sporadic planetary instability may have characterized the solar system. The thrust .. is that ancient and medieval celestial observations often do not support anticipated retrocalculations --at least up until the last few centuries. By analyzing common elements of design and form that appear in my tracings or sketches of original works of mythical and religious art, I hope to demonstrate that these elements not only offer more evidence of this instability, but also will contribute to our understanding of the nature of this instability.
    Velikovsky's "The Dark Age of Greece" by Clark Whelton
    I met Immanuel Velikovsky for the first time in 1969. During our interview at his home in Princeton, he showed me a letter from a man in North Carolina, begging him to complete his Ages in Chaos reconstruction of ancient history. "I am getting old," the man wrote. "If you don't publish soon, I will die without knowing the answer." It is probable the man did indeed die without knowing the answer. Velikovsky's Peoples of the Sea and Ramses II and His Time weren't published until eight and nine years later.
    William H. Stiebing, Jr., and Immanuel Velikovsky by Charles Ginenthal
    Velikovsky has had a great number of vocal critics over the past few decades who have raised many points of negative evidence regarding recent celestial catastrophism. One of them is Professor William H. Stiebing, Jr., a teacher of ancient history and archeology, since 1967, at the University of New Orleans, where he is presently a Professor of History. In 1984, he presented an attack on Velikovsky's theoretical scenario that, so far as I know, has not been analyzed. Since this criticism was presented this past year in modified form, it surely deserves an appraisal of its contents. Often, works like those of Stiebing are presented to the public in magazine advertisements such as those in Mercury, leaving the impression that such critiques are correct and balanced when in fact they are neither.
    A Word About The Planetary Debate by Irving Wolfe
    One of the major segments of catastrophist research involves our attempt to reconstruct what may have happened to the Solar System in the past four or five millennia. This domain, however, is riddled with confusion and misunderstanding, not only about the topic but also about how to deal with it. What follows is a map of the debate and a few guidelines I think we should follow, presented in a series of short points leading to my conclusion about what we ought to be doing. Some theorists do believe that these points are self-evident, yet I will strive to make them clear. I am personally acquainted with most of the planetary theorists, admire their work and hope they will take what follows (which applies to different theorists to different extents) as constructive criticism.

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