Lecture -

The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern FringeMichael D. Gordin, a Professor in the History Department and Director, Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies at Princeton University, will speak on his book The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe

Immanuel Velikovsky was once a household name; now, he is almost completely forgotten. In April, 1950, this obscure psychiatrist published a book under the sensational title Worlds in Collision, which set out to revolutionize humanity’s understanding of both science and ancient history. Velikovsky undertook this task by using the literary heritage of humanity -- myths, legends, ancient artifacts -- to argue that Earth was subject to repeated near collisions with comets and neighboring planets, and that the catastrophes recorded in Exodus, the Hindu Vedas, and Scandinavian lore were in fact real, attested to by the eyewitnesses of the past and dressed up in figurative language. The book sold like wildfire, certain scientists (especially astronomers) objected to what they perceived as rank pseudoscience, and the book sold even better than before, becoming the publishing sensation of the 1950s. This talk follows the career of Velikovsky from his surprising entry into public discourse through his tumultuous career as one of the grand old men of the American scientific fringe, interacting with almost every outcast doctrine from UFOlogy to creationism, adored by the 1970s counterculture and vilified by icons like Carl Sagan. What can the history of such vitriolic episodes about the boundary between science and pseudoscience tell us about the place of science in American culture, both then and now?

Michael Gordin specializes in the history of the modern physical sciences and Russian history, and currently serves as the director of the Fung Global Fellows Program. He came to Princeton in 2003 after earning his A.B. (1996) and his Ph.D. (2001) from Harvard University, and serving a term at the Harvard Society of Fellows. He has published articles on a variety of topics, such as the introduction of science into Russia in the early 18th century, the history of biological warfare in the late Soviet period, the relations between Russian literature and science, as well as a series of studies on the life and chemistry of Dmitrii I. Mendeleev, formulator of the periodic table of chemical elements, and a history of the atomic bombings of Japan during World War II. In 2011 he was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and was named a Guggenheim Fellow.