Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky - Life, Work, Books. Main Page. The Immanuel Velikovsky Archive. Immanuel Velikovsky. Immanuel Velikovsky (Russian: Иммануи́л Велико́вский; 10 June [O.S. 29 May] 1895 – 17 November 1979) was a Russian-Jewish psychiatrist and independent scholar, best known as the author of a number of controversial books reinterpreting the events of ancient history, in particular the US bestseller Worlds in Collision, published in 1950.[1] Earlier, he played a role in the founding of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, and was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
His books use comparative mythology and ancient literary sources (including the Old Testament) to argue that Earth suffered catastrophic close contacts with other planets (principally Venus and Mars) in ancient times. In positioning Velikovsky among catastrophists including Hans Bellamy, Ignatius Donnelly, and Johann Gottlieb Radlof,[2] the British astronomers Victor Clube and Bill Napier noted "... Velikovsky's life[edit]