Immanuel Velikovsky: biography and photos

Immanuel Velikovsky is a well-known psychoanalyst born in the Russian Empire. His main research he spent living in the US. 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 to substantially revise the ancient history, especially concerning the Middle East.

Biography of 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 Jewish. My father was a merchant. At the same time, the family strictly adhered to religious traditions. Father Immanuel was also an active public figure. In particular, he was an activist of the Zionist movement.

Immanuel Velikovsky received a qualitative classical education. And initially at home, he did not go to the gymnasium, but his parents paid much attention to the intellectual development of his son. As a child, Immanuel had studied the Bible and Jewish traditional texts well, he 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.

Choice of destination

Choose what kind of science he will engage in life, Immanuel was not easy. н получал образование в шотландском Эдинбурге. He was educated in Scottish Edinburgh. And with the outbreak of World War I entered the medical faculty. The profession of a doctor in those years was particularly in demand. But he did not confine himself to studying this science only. Simultaneously, Immanuel Velikovsky visited faculties of ancient history and jurisprudence.

Emigration

In Russia the family of Velikovsky lived before the revolution. After that, they were forced to flee to the south of the country. But here they were not happy, Velikovsky was almost shot by white men.

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, the Velikovskys could not find themselves in the changed reality. As a result, in 1922 they emigrated from the country. Immanuel's parents went to Palestine, where his father continued to advocate the idea of the return of primordial territories to Israel, and Immanuel left for Germany. He settled in Berlin.

In the German capital, he began to study the natural sciences. In the first place he was interested in biology. In Vienna and Zurich, he began to comprehend the basics of psychoanalysis, and was also carried away by the peculiarities of the work of the human brain.

Acquaintance with Einstein

Settled himself Velikovsky in Berlin. Here he once published a popular science magazine, whose name in literal translation from Latin could be translated as "Written University."

In this magazine he wrote articles by Albert Einstein, at that time Velikovsky was close to him. The famous physicist edited the physical and mathematical volume that was published within the framework of the "Written University" edition.

In this edition, many eminent scientists gathered, who later founded the Hebrew University in 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 of Velikovsky

In the fifties and seventies, Velikovsky published a number of publications in which he began to actively polemicize with scientists such as Charles Darwin, who formulated theories of natural selection and the origin of man, 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 in general.

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 this transformation were people who lived during several epochs - the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and even the Neolithic Age.

Influence on ancient history

Moreover, Velikovsky asserted that cosmic catastrophes influenced not only geological, but also historical processes. Especially on what was happening in the Middle East. In particular, he noted that these same processes had an impact on the biblical events.

In his opinion, the cataclysms in the solar system had a direct impact on them. First of all, the displacement of planets from orbits, the change in the characteristics of the rotation of the Earth itself, as well as the change in climatic zones.

Immanuel Velikovsky, whose biography was devoted to these studies, argued that the obliteration of true events, which the subsequent generations do not remember, was due to the so-called global amnesia of mankind. In this case, the scientist used terms from psychoanalysts. As the scientist claimed, traumatic memories of entire peoples were forced into the subconscious area, from which it was not possible to extract them.

Chronology of the Ancient Worlds

His ideas were formulated in several books by Immanuel Velikovsky. "Collision of the worlds" became 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 shortcomings of the early Egyptologists, initially incorrectly determined the dates of key historical events. So this chronology needs to be reviewed, especially in the 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 approximately 600 years, in which historical events and figures appear under different names.

Thus, in his book Immanuel Velikovsky (The Clash of the Worlds, a pdf version of which can also be found), he explains why there is no correspondence in time between sources describing, on the one hand, the Egyptian, and on the other, the Old Testament story. Velikovsky put forward a hypothesis about alternative reconstruction of history. She allowed him to correlate some facts, explanations which previously could not be found.

Reconstruction of history

Examples were given by Immanuel Velikovsky ("The Collision of the Worlds" was also dedicated to this) Hyksos. This is the name of the people who conquered part of Ancient Egypt. They thought they were actually Amalekites - a people who roamed about Arabia and Palestine. And the Philistines took for the Persian conquerors and the Greek mercenaries.

Proceeding from this logic, Velikovsky identified the Egyptian ruler Hatshepsut with the Queen of Sheba, known by the Old Testament, and Pharaoh Thutmose III, who, according to Egyptologists, conquered Palestine and Syria, compared with the biblical king Shishak, who is well known for the plundering of the Jerusalem temple in the tenth century BC.

Civilizations are "ghosts"

In the historical concept of Velikovsky, the idea of "ghost" civilizations was embedded. They, according to the views of the scientist, arose because of errors in the traditional chronology. For example, he believed that the Hittite empire never existed. But in fact it was a Chaldean-Babylonian civilization, which existed somewhat later.

In connection with this, the same person was the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar and the Hittite king Hattusili.

Evaluation of Velikovsky

In the scientific community, the ideas of Velikovsky were evaluated in different ways. The most famous biography of the hero of our article was written by Ion Degen. "Immanuel Velikovsky" - it's called that. In it, the author describes in detail the fate of the scientist, people associated with him.

Immanuel Velikovsky, whose photo in the middle of the twentieth century often appeared on the pages of popular science magazines, imagined that significant changes must be made to the description of the majority of 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 academic society, the ideas of Velikovsky were strongly criticized. In Israel, he was firmly entrenched in the reputation of a charlatan. But in the US, his books have been a great success among the general public, which can be compared to the popularity in Russia of Anatoly Fomenko, also fond of alternative history. But American scientists also did not support these ideas.

The Velikovsky case

Because of the accusations of the scientist, the so-called "Velikovsky affair" broke out in falsification. The basis was not only his theory, but also the personality of the historian. A serious scandal began.

Hostility colleagues on the shop negatively affected the emotional and psychological state of Velikovsky. Eventually, he came to a serious mental crisis. At the end of his life and career, he finally lost faith in the attempts to persuade at least one of the authoritative colleagues in his own right. Although this did not cease to develop their ideas.

About the reconstruction of the history of the ancient world has written more than one book Velikovsky Immanuel. "Centuries in Chaos," for example, are devoted to this topic. But, like most of his other works, the work was aggressively received by specialists. The same book was waiting for the book "The Earth in Coups". Immanuel Velikovsky and his publisher received threats, his books boycotted, and supporters lost their jobs.

Historical Detective

This is how the genre of many books that Velikovsky Immanuel wrote was determined. "Oedipus and Akhenaten" is one of such works.

The reader is devoted to the fascinating investigation of historical secrets and mysteries. Truth can only be determined on the basis of a thorough study of historical documents of the ancient world and evidence.

On their basis, the author puts forward, at first glance, incredible ideas, which are simply impossible to believe, until you get immersed in fascinating historical hypotheses. In this book, the author tries to answer questions about who the queen of Sheba really was, how Pharaoh Akhenaten and the legendary king Oedipus are alike.

A cautious and conservative historian, of course, will be puzzled, having got acquainted with the conclusions that Velikovsky does. In any case, the reader will be enthusiastic. He is waiting for cognitive reading.

In what was Velikovsky correct?

Over time, it turned out that in many of his hypotheses Velikovsky was right. This was proved by more recent and thorough research.

For example, his version that the planet Jupiter produces radio noise, which was voiced at a lecture at the University of Pristone in 1953, two years later proved astronomers Franklin and Burke.

In 1969, Velikovsky said that the lunar soil has the property of magnetism. Studies of the ground by American spacecraft Apollo-14 and Apollo-15 confirmed this.

In 1950, in his book "Worlds in a Collision," the scientist said that, according to his calculations, the temperature of Venus is much higher than the terrestrial temperature. Finally, these words succeeded 11 years later to astronomer Drake.

At the same time, in 1961, the American space laboratory confirmed another hypothesis of Velikovsky about Venus. It turned out that the planet does have some abnormal properties. For example, it is characterized by retrograde rotation.

In the same book, "Worlds in a Collision," Velikovsky claimed that the density of Venus is much higher than that of the Earth. In the 60's the distant planet was reached by the interplanetary station "Mariner", and it turned out to be really so.

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 from the whole scientific world only Einstein always took his ideas seriously. Others condemned, therefore among his followers after Velikovsky, the image of the martyr of truth, which dogmatists and conservatives poisoned, was fixed. In Russian, his books were not published massively. It is possible to find only separate editions.