Velikovsky:"In 1953 while addressing graduate students at Princeton University, Velikovsky suggested two further testable phenomena: that
Earth's magnetic field reaches as far out into space as Moon's orbit and is responsible for vibratory or rocking movements of moon. And he suggested that planet Jupiter (from which he said Venus-comet had originated) radiates in radio frequency range of electromagnetic spectrum.
These predictions were taken by scientists of 1950s as being tantamount to proof of Velikovsky's ignorance, insanity or both. {We will see him ripping Egyptology apart in Ramessides issue and mentioning older alphabet as well.} Harlow Shapley refused to become involved in any experimental research to confirm his ideas. When, for instance, it was suggested that Shapley might use Harvard observatory to search for evidence of hydrocarbons in Venusian atmosphere. Shapley replied that he wasn't interested in Velikovsky's 'sensational claims' because they violate laws of mechanics and 'if Dr Velikovsky is right, rest of us are crazy'.
Within little more than a decade of publication, 'all' of Velikovsky's key predictions were confirmed by experiment. The 'Mariner' spacecraft of 1963 determined by experiment that surface temperature of Venus is in region of 800 degrees Fahrenheit and that planet's fifteen-mile thick atmosphere is composed of heavy hydrocarbon molecules and possibly more complex organic compounds as well. {My father told me as I was growing up methane type atmosphere could be changed to an earth type atmosphere with explosion of hydrogen bombs in atmosphere of Venus.}
In April 1955, Drs. B. F. Burke and K. L. Franklin announced to American Astronomical Society their accidental discovery of radio noise broadcast by Jupiter. In 1962, US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington and Goldstone Tracking Station in southern California announced that radiometric observations showed Venus to have a slow retrograde motion. In same year, 'Explorer' satellite detected Earth's magnetic field at a distance of at least twenty-two Earth radii, while in 1965 it was reported that tail extends 'at least as far as moon'. (3)
Considering that main thrust of science's attack on Velikovsky was a personal attack on his integrity, behavior of some of his most vociferous critics in scientific community makes interesting reading. In August 1963, 'Harper's Magazine' which had carried original announcement of Velikovsky's theories, now did a retrospective piece pointing out how all his main predictions had been borne out. The author of both articles, Eric Larrabee, made a reference which drew a thunderous response from Donald Menzel, director of Harvard College Observatory. At height of controversy a decade earlier, Menzel had tried to shoot Velikovsky down by calculating that for his astronomical theory to be right, Sun would have to have a surface potential of 10 billion billion volts. Obviously, said Menzel, this is impossible so Velikovsky must be wrong. By an extraordinary chance, in 1960, V. A. Bailey, emeritus professor of physics at Sydney University (who knew nothing of Velikovsky controversy) claimed to have discovered that Sun is electrically charged and has a surface potential of 10 billion billion volts - exactly value calculated by Menzel.
Feeling that Bailey's discovery made him look foolish, Menzel now sent off a strongly worded response to 'Harper's' and a letter to Bailey in Australia asking him to revoke his theory of electric charge on Sun as it was assisting enemy.
