Immanuel Velikovsky is a well-known psychoanalyst who was born in the Russian Empire. He conducted his main research while living in the USA. In the history of science, he remained as a connoisseur of geology and astronomy, the author of several original theories. For example, "revisionist chronology." Based on it, Velikovsky proposed a substantial revision of ancient history, especially concerning the Middle East.
Biography Velikovsky
Immanuel Velikovsky was born in the Russian Empire in 1895. He was born in the city of Vitebsk, which is now part of Belarus. His parents were Jews. Father was a businessman. At the same time, the family strictly adhered to religious traditions. Immanuel's father was also an active public figure. In particular, he was an activist of the Zionist movement.
Immanuel Velikovsky received a high-quality classical education. Moreover, he didn’t go to school at home, but his parents paid great attention to the intellectual development of his son. As a child, Immanuel studied the Bible and Jewish traditional texts well, knew French and German.
When the boy grew up, he was sent to the Moscow imperial gymnasium. The building has survived to this day. Now it houses the Griboedov Gymnasium.
Destination Selection
It was not easy for Immanuel to choose what kind of science he would do in life. He was educated in Edinburgh, Scotland. And with the outbreak of World War I, he entered the medical faculty. The profession of a doctor in those years was especially in demand. But he did not limit himself to studying only this science. In parallel, Immanuel Velikovsky visited the faculties of ancient history and jurisprudence.
Emigration
In Russia, the Velikovsky family lived before the revolution. After that, they were forced to flee to the south of the country. But here they were not welcome, Velikovsky was almost shot by whites.
He returned to Moscow only in 1921. The hero of our article managed to recover at the university, where he was awarded a master's degree in medicine. Doctors were necessary for the young Soviet state.
However, Velikovsky could not find herself in the changed surrounding reality. As a result, in 1922 they emigrated from the country. Immanuel's parents left for Palestine, where his father continued to advocate the idea of returning to Israel the ancestral territories, and Immanuel went to Germany. He settled in Berlin.
In the German capital, he began to study natural sciences. First of all, he was interested in biology. In Vienna and Zurich, he began to comprehend the basics of psychoanalysis, and also became interested in the features of the human brain.
Meet Einstein
Velikovsky settled in Berlin. Here he at one time published a popular science journal, the name of which in literal translation from Latin could be translated as "Written University".
Albert Einstein wrote articles in this journal, while Velikovsky was close to him. The famous physicist edited the physical and mathematical volume, which was published as part of the publication "Written University".
This publication gathered many eminent scholars who later founded the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After Germany, Immanuel Velikovsky lived in Palestine with his parents, where he also edited a scientific academic journal.
Decisive in his fate was the move to the United States in 1939. It was in America that Velikovsky began to formulate and develop his revolutionary scientific ideas.
Ideas Velikovsky
In the 50-70s, Velikovsky issued a number of publications in which he began to actively polemize in absentia with scientists such as Charles Darwin, who formulated theories of natural selection and human origin, and Charles Lyell, who is considered the founder of modern world geology.
Velikovsky formulated a theory according to which cosmic catastrophes have a direct, and sometimes key, influence on geological processes, and also on the course of world history.
The hero of this article actively appealed to various sciences, including history, geophysics, mythology, astronomy, archeology, linguistics and even folklore. As a result, Velikovsky came to the conclusion that the active transformation of the earth's relief continued until recently. First of all, the scientist had in mind the formation of glaciers, seas, mountains, volcanic activity. Witnesses of these transformations were people who lived for several eras at once - the Bronze and Iron Ages, and even the Neolithic.
Impact on Ancient History
Moreover, Velikovsky argued that space disasters influenced not only geological, but also historical processes. Especially what was happening in the Middle East. In particular, he noted that these same processes influenced biblical events.
In his opinion, the cataclysms in the solar system had a direct effect on them. First of all, the displacement of planets from orbits, the change in the rotation characteristics of the Earth itself, as well as the change in climatic zones.
Immanuel Velikovsky, whose biography was devoted to these studies, argued that the oblivion of the true events that subsequent generations do not remember was due to the so-called global amnesia of mankind. In this case, the scientist used terms from psychoanalysts. According to the scientist, the traumatic memories of entire nations were crowded out into the field of the subconscious, from where it was not possible to extract them.
Chronology of the ancient worlds
Immanuel Velikovsky formulated his ideas in several books. "Clash of worlds" has become one of the main works of the scientist. In it, he argued that the chronology of ancient civilizations, which is used everywhere, is erroneous. Inaccuracies went after the flaws of the early Egyptologists, who initially incorrectly determined the dates of key historical events. So this chronology needs to be reviewed, especially in light of the latest discoveries in various fields of science.
Velikovsky Immanuel, whose books at that time were of great interest, defined two periods, each lasting about 600 years, in which historical events and figures appear under different names.
Thus, in his book, Immanuel Velikovsky (The Clash of Worlds, a pdf version of which can also be found) explains why there is no time correspondence between sources describing, on the one hand, Egyptian and, on the other, Old Testament history. Velikovsky put forward a hypothesis about an alternative reconstruction of history. She allowed him to relate some facts, the explanation of which could not be found earlier.
Reconstruction of history
Immanuel Velikovsky (The Clash of Worlds was also dedicated to this) was cited by the Hyksos as examples. This is the name of the people who conquered part of Ancient Egypt. In fact, he considered them to be Amalekites, a people who wandered around Arabia and Palestine. And the Philistines mistook Persian conquerors and Greek mercenaries.
Based on this logic, Velikovsky identified the Egyptian ruler Hatshepsut with the Queen of Sheba, known according to the Old Testament, and Pharaoh Thutmosis III, who, according to Egyptologists, conquered Palestine and Syria, compared with the biblical king Shishak, who is well known for the sack of Jerusalem BC.
Civilizations - "ghosts"
The idea of civilizations - "ghosts" was invested in the historical concept of Velikovsky. They, according to the scientist, arose due to errors in traditional chronology. For example, he believed that the Hittite empire never existed. But in reality it was the Chaldean-Babylonian civilization, which existed somewhat later.
In this regard, the same person was the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar and the Hittite king Hattusili.
Velikovsky estimates
In the scientific community, Velikovsky’s ideas were evaluated differently. The most famous biography of the hero of our article was written by Ion Degen. "Immanuel Velikovsky" - this is what it is called. In it, the author describes in detail the fate of the scientist, the people associated with him.
Immanuel Velikovsky, whose photo in the middle of the 20th century often appeared on the pages of popular science journals, imagined that significant changes should be made to the description of most ancient civilizations. For example, this applies to the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Phenicia and Egypt, Greece and Babylon, Assyria and Judea.
However, on the part of most representatives of the scientific community, Velikovsky’s ideas were sharply criticized. In Israel, the reputation of a charlatan was firmly entrenched in him. But in the United States, his books were a great success among the general public, which can be compared with the popularity in Russia of Anatoly Fomenko, who is also interested in alternative history. But American scientists also did not support these ideas.
The Velikovsky case
Because of the scientist’s accusations of falsification, even the so-called “Velikovsky case” broke out. The basis was not only his theories, but also the personality of the historian. A serious scandal began.
The hostility of colleagues in the workshop negatively affected the emotional and psychological state of Velikovsky. Ultimately, he came to a serious mental crisis. At the end of his life and career, he finally lost faith in attempts to convince at least one of the authoritative colleagues of his innocence. Although at the same time he did not stop developing his ideas.
Velikovsky Immanuel wrote more than one book on the reconstruction of the history of the ancient world. Centuries in Chaos, for example, are dedicated to this topic. But, like most of his other works, the work was aggressively received by specialists. The same fate awaited the book "Earth in Coups." Immanuel Velikovsky and his publisher received threats, his books were boycotted, and supporters lost their jobs.
Historical detective
That is how the genre of many books that Velikovsky Immanuel wrote was determined. "Oedipus and Akhenaten" - one of these works.
Readers are dedicated to a fascinating investigation of historical secrets and mysteries. Truth can be determined only on the basis of a thorough study of the historical documents of the ancient world and evidence.
Based on them, the author puts forward, at first glance, incredible ideas that it is simply impossible to believe in until you immerse yourself in fascinating historical hypotheses. In this book, the author tries to answer questions about who the Queen of Sheba was in fact, what pharaoh Akhenaten and the legendary king Oedipus are similar to.
A cautious and conservative historian will certainly be puzzled by familiarizing himself with the conclusions made by Velikovsky. But the reader will be passionate anyway. Cognitive reading awaits him.
What was Velikovsky right about?
Over time, it turned out that Velikovsky was right in many of his hypotheses. This was proved by later and more thorough studies.
For example, his version that the planet Jupiter makes radio noise, which was expressed at a lecture at the University of Princes in 1953, was proved by astronomers Franklin and Burke two years later.
In 1969, Velikovsky declared that lunar soil possesses the property of magnetism. Soil surveys by the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 American spacecraft have confirmed this.
In 1950, in his book "Worlds in Collision," the scientist stated that, according to his calculations, the temperature of Venus is much higher than the Earth's temperature. The astronomer Drake managed to finally prove these words after 11 years.
Then, in 1961, the American Space Laboratory confirmed another Velikovsky hypothesis about Venus. It turned out that the planet really has some abnormal properties. For example, it has a retrograde rotation.
In the same book, Worlds in Collision, Velikovsky claimed that the density of Venus is much higher than Earth. In the 60s of a distant planet, the Mariner interplanetary station reached, and this turned out to be true.
The scientist died in 1979 in the USA, in the city of Princeton in the state of New Jersey. He was 84 years old. It is worth noting that of the entire scientific world, only Einstein always and seriously took his ideas. The rest condemned, therefore, among his followers Velikovsky was entrenched in the image of a martyr of truth, who is persecuted by dogmatists and conservatives. In Russian, his books were not mass-produced. Only selected publications can be found.