Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihlpg.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihlpg!tan From: tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: Re: The realm of physics, and the late Immanuel Velikovsky Message-ID: <1437@ihlpg.UUCP> Date: Tue, 12-Nov-85 15:20:10 EST Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1437 Posted: Tue Nov 12 15:20:10 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 13-Nov-85 08:19:47 EST References: <457@imsvax.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 86 > [Ted Holden] > It has been brought to my attention that a number of the > amateur physicists who regularly post to net.physics have posted ^^^^^^^^^^^^ > articles on the late Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky. This discussion is > normally confined to net.origins, since it involves historical > and mythological interpretation, things physicists are not > normally interested in. I would like to invite any of the > net.physics viewers who have any interest in this topic to pick > it up on net.origins. I thought you might also like to read what > a couple of PROFESSIONAL physicists have had to say about ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Velikovsky. -------- Dear Mr. Holden: I apologize to the rest of the readers of net.physics (but not to you) for an ad-hominem attack on you, but I could not restrain myself after reading your totally uncalled for attack on the rest of the posters to net.physics. What makes you think that the debunkers of Velikovsky in net.physics are all AMATEUR physicists? Many have posted from universities and companies that employ professional physicists. I, for one, received my Ph.D in physics from Yale University (experimental high-energy physics), was a research associate (post-doc) for 3 years at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and an Assistant Professor of Physics at Harvard University for four years. I have known literally HUNDREDS of professional physicists, and not one of them takes Velikovsky seriously. I sure as hell don't. -------- > [About a hundred lines omitted- quoted from someone named Robert Bass] > The paper itself amounts to about ten pages of very fine > print and I can't reproduce it here without getting thrown out of > usenet for cause. Copies are probably still available from > the BYU physics dept. If all else fails, I could photostat > copies of this article and send them anyone interested, offer > limited to those with advanced degrees in physics, astrophysics > etc. since nobody else would have a prayer of understanding it. > Contact me by UNIX mail if interested. -------- Sorry, I've got better things to do with my time. I must attend a meeting of the SCSSESV (Secret Conspiratorial Society of the Scientific Establishment for the Suppression of Velikovskyism.) -------- > I don't have to tell any of you who Albert Einstein was. > But did any of you know that he and Velikovsky had been pals at > the Prussian Scientific Academy; that, along with Heinrich Loewe, > they had edited the Scripta Universitatus, the major cornerstone > of the present Hebrew University in Jerusalem? Some of his > thoughts on Velikovsky may be read in a letter TO Velikovsky > dated March 17, 1955: > Dear Mr. and Mrs. Velikovsky, > At the occasion of this inauspicious birthday you have > presented me once more with the fruits of an almost eruptive > productivity. I look forward with pleasure to reading the > historical book that does not bring into danger the toes of > my own guild. How it stands with the toes of the other > faculty, I do not know yet. I think of the touching prayer, > "Holy St. Florian, spare my house, put fire to others!" > I have already read carefully the first volume of the > memoirs to "Worlds in Collision" and have supplied it with a > few marginal notes in pencil that can easily be erased. I > admire your dramatic talent and also the art and the > straightforwardness of Thackery who has compelled the > roaring astronomical lion [Shapley] to pull in a little his > royal tail, yet not showing enough respect for the truth. > Also, I would be gratified if you could savor the whole > episode for its humorous side. > Unimaginable letter debts and unread manuscripts that were > sent in, force me to be brief. Many thanks to both of you > and friendly wishes. > Your, > A. Einstein > > > > I am just an ordinary businessman myself, and know very > little of physics. Therefore, when I read or hear about anyone > ridiculing or "debunking" Velikovsky's theories because they > supposedly violate the "laws of physics", I can only assume it is > because they think they know more about physics than Robert Bass > and Albert Einstein. ------- If you read into Einstein's letter an endorsement of Velikovsky's theories then you are even more stupid then I thought. As for Robert Bass, I never heard of him. -- Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL ihnp4!ihlpg!tan