On 9/18/07, Ian Tresman ian2@knowledge.co.uk wrote:
At 20:33 18/09/2007, Matthew Brown wrote:
On 9/18/07, Ian Tresman ian2@knowledge.co.uk wrote:
I recall Director of NASA's Goddard Space Center, Columbia astronomer and Dartmouth earth scientist, Robert Jastrow, criticizing part of Carl Sagan's assessment of Worlds in Collision, and concluded that "Here Velikovsky was the better astronomer" [The New York Times (December 2, 1979)
I suspect this was intended as a monumental insult to Sagan rather than any praise to Velikovsky.
"Velikovsky was the better astronomer" sure reads like praise to me.
I suppose that when Velikovsky earned an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts and Science from the University of Lethbridge in 1974, this was meant as a monumental insult to everyone at the University.
George Herbert wrote:
Yeah, unfortunately unless you know the history here (Sagan was monumentally unpopular in his field, as popular as he was to the public), it's easy to be confused.
But surely not as unpopular as Velikovsky.
Regards,
Ian Tresman www.plasma-universe.com
When Sagan fell ill, shortly before his death, a wide number of professional astronomers and planetary scientists I know refused, some rather insultingly, to sign a get-well card someone else was passing around at a conference I was at.