Velikovsky: psychiatrist, historian and catastrophist JOHN D. ILES, MD Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky died on Nov. 1 7, 1979, at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of 84. In 1981, a geophysicist com- mented in the Toronto Globe & Mail: "The recent death of Imma- nuel Velikovsky brought to an end a fascinating saga of controversy, claim and counterclaim". This scholar's theories, particularly in as- tronomy, geology and archaeology, have provoked almost hysterical re- actions from some orthodox pro- fessional scientists since 1950, and since 1969 the achievements of the space age have rekindled contro- versy as a number of his startling 'advance claims' (Velikovsky him- self objected to the word 'predic- tions' as smacking of the sooth- sayer) were confirmed. Eventually, a small minority of scientists be- came convinced that his ideas de- served serious reconsideration. The tempo of claims and counterclaims makes a fascinating saga, and there is no end in sight. A biographical sketch may help to make clear what the scientific rumpus is about and how it all began. Velikovsky was born in Russia in 1895. His father, a businessman, was also a scholar of Hebrew who became involved in promoting a Jewish national home in Palestine: Immanuel Velikovsky: destined to upset the chronologic applecart and arouse after the Russian revolution, and the scientific community to a state of furious indignation. the end of World War I, he was threatened with arrest, so the fam- Kharkov and Moscow universities, of the scientific papers, and thus ily moved to the Ukraine and then gaining his MD in 1921. Later that began a lifelong friendship. Veli- to the Caucasus. Despite these year the family was granted exit kovsky was married in 1923 to troubled times, young Velikovsky, permits for Palestine and moved to Elisheva Kramer (who survives whose pre-clinical studies in Edin- Berlin as a first step. Here Veli- him): the couple shortly reached burgh were interrupted in 1914 by kovsky helped in scholarly research Palestine. the outbreak of war, managed to and in publishing papers by Jewish At first Dr. Velikovsky did gen- complete his study of medicine at scholars aimed at eventually found- eral practice in Jerusalem and later, Dr.lies is a retired general practitioner ing a Hebrew university in Jerusa- after psychiatric training in Europe, living in Brechin, Ont. lem. Albert Einstein was the editor practised psychoanalysis in Haifa 496 CMA JOURNAL/SEPTEMBER 1, 1981/VOL. 125 and in Tel Aviv. Two papers he view the main steps in this aston- tioned asiatic invaders named the wrote are of some interest; in 1931 ishing process. Hyksos, a vital link in fixing the he suggested that EEGs might A sudy of Moses naturally en- period of these events because it prove diagnostic in epilepsy, and tailed a thorough appraisal of all was known that the Hyksos had the other paper was a psychoanal- the circumstances of the Exodus, brought about the fall of the Middle ytic study of Freud himself ('The and Velikovsky soon realized that Kingdom of Egypt, and had ruled Dreams That Freud Dreamed'). He if there were any truth in the bibli- the country from the XIVth had in mind a book on Freud and cal account, the Exodus must have through the XVIIth Dynasties. so, in 1939, he paid what was to been a time of great natural dis- This lucky discovery, however, have been just a few months visit asters. It should be emphasized that created a dilemma. The end of the to the US. His purpose was to comb scholars have never been able to Middle Kingdom had been conven- reference libraries for data and agree on the date of the Exodus; tionally dated to the 18th century commentary on Oedipus, Akhnaton opinions range over several cen- BC, too early by several centuries and Moses - characters who had turies, the main reason being the to fit the Exodus according to He- all figured largely in Freud's own failure of the Egyptians to leave be- brew chronology. Scholars had al- studies. This visit was prolonged hind any mention of what was a ways preferred to look for a likely into permanent residence in the momentous occasion for the Is- date in New Kingdom history. If US, and it proved to be the turning raelites. Well aware of this deficien- the Exodus took place at the same point in Velikovsky's career. cy, Velikovsky began to look in- time as the Hyksos invasion, it It may seem odd that an aca- stead for ancient Egyptian records raised the dilemma that either He- demic study of Moses should have of natural disasters. Eventually, in brew history was too short by sev- escalated into a worldwide study of the papyrus Ipuwer, preserved since eral centuries, or that Egyptian ancient history which would cul- 1828 in Leiden University in Hol- history was too long by the same minate eventually in a bestseller land and translated in 1909 by the amount. destined to arouse the scientific well-known Egyptologist A.H. Gar- Velikovsky's next step was to community to a state of furious in- diner, he found what he was look- make a close study of the accepted dignation, and would launch a con- ing for - an Egyptian account of chronological scheme for Egypt troversy which has already lasted a terrible disasters which formed a from the end of the Middle King- whole generation and continues un- remarkable parallel to the biblical dom right down to the advent of abated. It will be of interest to re- version. The papyrus also men- Alexander the Great in 332 BC. A Allen & Hanburys A Glaxo Canada Ltd. Company rPAAB1 Toronto, Montreal .ccPPI v:, Prescribing Information CPS '81 p.637 Prescribing lnfoN.tion CPS'81 P.61 He, became convinced that, in sev- sult of Velikovsky's researches into ment in 1950 reacted very badly eral instances, the same dynasty ancient history can best be summed (and most unscientifically), a fact had been described twice over- up in his own words: which is now generally conceded once according to the ancient Egyp- "I offered these theses: there even by astronomers themselves. tian sources, and then a second were physical upheavals of a global The book's publisher, Macmillan, time, as a sort of echo, in the his- character in historical times; these was threatened with a boycott of tory according to ancient Greek his- catastrophes were caused by extra- its textbook division if it persisted torians later on. This was a most terrestrial agents; these agents can in the publication. Its salesmen disturbing finding, because accepted be identified." were refused interviews at univer- Egyptian chronology was the prod- His book Worlds In Collision sities. The book eventually topped duct not only of archaelogical ex- was finally published on Apr. 3, the bestseller lists of both the New ploration and scholarly research 1950. Basically it described two sets York Times and the New York throughout this century and the of cataclysmic events 35 and 27 Herald Tribune for 20 consecutive last, but it had also apparently been centuries ago. Earth, Venus, Mars weeks, yet Macmillan was forced confirmed by astronomical calcula- and the Moon were involved in near to yield to the pressure on June 8th tions. It had become the yardstick encounters when Venus, then on a - when sales were at their peak- by which the chronologies of the stretched elliptical orbit following and, with Velikovsky's consent, to whole of the rest of the Near East its eruption from the giant planet transfer the publication rights to were measured. Jupiter, caused turmoil among Doubleday (which had no textbook By the fall of 1940, Velikovsky members of the solar system before division). James Putnam, the Mac- Millan editor who had accepted Velikovsky's manuscript, was fired, though he had been with the firm "If the Exodus took place at the same time as for 25 years. Gordon Atwater, cu- the Hyksos invasion, it raised the dilemma rator of the Hayden Planetarium that either Hebrew history was too short and chairman of the department of by several centuries, or that Egyptian astronomy in the American Mu- seum of Natural History, had pro- history was too long by the same amount." posed a planetarium program illus- trating Velikovsky's thesis; he also was promptly fired. had concluded that Egyptian his- settling on its present orbit. In 1955 The details given above are de- tory was, in reality, shorter by about a companion volume appeared deal- rived from a much fuller account 500 years, and that the Exodus and ing with the archaeological, geolog- in The Velikovsky Affair published the Hyksos invasion were contem- ical and paleontological evidence by University Books, New York, in porary events. By this time he had ("Earth in Upheaval") that sup- 1966. It details the various attacks also discovered that a comparable ported the purely historical evidence on the book, and the ad hominem train of disasters had been recorded of Worlds In Collision. attacks on Velikovsky himself, in in the history of ancient Mexico. Meanwhile, in 1952, he had pro- the scientific journals together with Suspecting that these natural dis- duced the first of a projected four- their refusal to grant him space in asters must have been global in ex- volume series which would set out which to reply to his critics. As tent, he promptly set about studying a revised chronology for ancient one of the joint authors, Ralph the ancient records of all races Egypt: its title was A ges In Chaos Juergens, summed the matter up: chiefly in the reference libraries of and it covered the period from the "The violence of the reaction New York.