Velikovsky, Immanuel

(born June 10, 1895, Vitebsk, Russia—died Nov. 17, 1979, Princeton, N.J., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. writer. He earned various degrees in Moscow and Edinburgh before moving to the U.S. in 1939. In his first book, Worlds in Collision (1950), he hypothesized, relying on legends of ancient peoples, that Venus and Mars had approached Earth closely c. 1500 BC, disturbing its rotation, axis inclination, and magnetic field. His claim was widely discredited by astronomers, and the book's publication caused U.S. scientists to threaten a boycott of his publisher. Later works set out other controversial theories about ancient history and catastrophic occurrences.

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