In "Gulliver's Travels" (1726)
Jonathan Swift presented precise data concerning the moons of Mars ! After all
they were discovered only in 1882, that is 156 years later! It seems Swift had
some unusual source of information!!! ( UFO? ).
The Moons of Mars
In
„Gulliver's Travels” (1726) Jonathan Swift presented precise data
concerning the moons of Mars ! After all they were discovered only in 1882,
that is 156 years later! It seems Swift had some unusual source of information!!!
( UFO? ).
This curious
piece of information has been circulating for the last fifty (?) years. Even
Martin Gardner (an American scientist with popularizatory leanings) in his book
„Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science” (1957) quotes it as the most
astonishing guess of all time. Let's read what Gardner writes
about a pseudo–scientific book by dr Samuel Velikovsky „Worlds in
Collision” (1950):
It may be of
interest to note in passing that Velikovsky make use of the close approach of
Mars to explain what is perhaps the most astonishing guess of all the time. In
"Gulliver's Travels", Swift mentions casually that the astronomers of
Laputa discovered that Mars had two satellites. Mars DOES have two moons, but
they were not spotted until 156 years later. It was 100 years until a telescope
was made large enough even to see the moons ! Moreover, Swift's predication
about their periods of revolution corresponds closely to their actual periods.
One of the moons, Phobos, goes around Mars in the same direction the planet
rotates, but only in one–third the time so that it appears to rise in the
west and set in the east. This is the only known body in the universe that
revolves around a central body FASTER than the central body rotates, yet this
fact also is included in Swift's brief description ! In Velikovsky's opinion,
Swift got his information from the ancient manuscripts he had chanced upon, and
which were based on actual observations of the moons at a time when Mars was
close to the earth. The doctor thanks this way why Greek mythology had Mars'
chariot drawn by two horses – the two horses, incidentally, for which the
moon were later named. “Fads and Fallacies in the Name of
Science”, 1957
Now (just in
case) let's dip into „Gulliver's Travels”:
They have likewise discovered two lesser
Stars, or Satellites, which revolve about Mars; whereof the innermost is
distant from the center of the primary Planet exactly three of his Diameters,
and the outermost five; the former revolves in the Space of ten hours, and the
latter in Twenty–one and an Half; so that the Squares of their periodical
Times, are very near in the same Proportion with the Cubs of their distance
from the center of Mars; which evidently shows them to be governed by the
same Law of Gravitation, that influences the other heavenly Bodies.
And finally (to be completely fair) let's
take any astronomy textbook and make the following table:
|
periods |
distances |
|
|
||
|
Phobos |
Deimos |
Phobos |
Deimos |
|
|
Swift |
10 |
21:30 |
3 |
5 |
|
|
Handbook |
7:39 |
30:17 |
9.337 |
23.463 |
|
|
A king's ransom
to him who can discern any kind of accuracy in Swift's „astonishing
guess”! To the contrary: – Swift turned out to be exceptionally
inaccurate.
Of course
there's nothing astonishing in Swift's remarks about the relationship between
the period of revolution and the radius of the orbit. Swift wrote this in 1726 while
Kepler discovered his Third Law as early as 1618. The only thing that Swift
guessed was the number of moons, but... Jove's four moons and, of course, the
Earth's single moon were already known in his time. Thus Swift could choose
between 2 and 3 moons. He choose two, like anybody would in his place (what
better fit for 1 and 4 ?).
Thus we are
dealing with a pure fairy–tale !
Who set it in
motion ? Probably Velikovsky in 1950. That Velikovsky didn't consult an
astronomy textbook is understandable. But the others ? Why didn't Martin
Gardner do it ?! It's simple:– nobody suspected that Velikovsky could be
so nonchalant (or impudent?). Therefore, nobody suspected that a piece of
information so easy to check could be false !
However, was it
really easy to check ? It seems that not so easy after all. In the first place
both an astronomy textbook (rarely read) and "Gulliver's Travels"
(read even more rarely) should have been at hand, and additionally... one
should have had the habit of checking information.
Credulity and
naivety still exist, even with respect to much more important matters. So all
mistification–makers still have great perpectives.
The
Daeniken–like literature brings a lot of this kind of news. It's quite
possible that ALL of it is either distorted or simply false. For example: I
read somewhere about a primaeval building made of giant stone blocks so
precisely polished that it was impossible to squeeze a razor between them. I
suspect that on the spot it would turn out that between them there would be
room even for a hand.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Who invented the car ? Why, that's
obvious:
A very interesting invention of the kind
was made in Russia. In the years 1751–52, Leontij Shamshoorienov, a
moujik from the Nizgorod district, constructed a “self–propelling
cart" set into motion by the strength of two men.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Who invented the electric light–bulb
? That's no problem, either:
The light–bulb was invented by a
Russian scientist, A.N. Lodygin, who for the first time used it to light the
streets of Petersburg. [...] A junior lieutnant of the Russian fleet, A.M.
Chotinskij, while on a service trip to the USA demonstrated Lodygin's
light–bulb (which he had taken with him) to T.Edison. Edison made use of
Lodygin technical ideas, introduced some construction changes in his
light–bulb, and patented it in 1879.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia