In the 1970s, Victor Clube and colleague William Napier proposed that cometary impacts played a far bigger role in civilizational history than mainstream science acknowledged. Clube argued large heterogeneous comets break up under solar radiation — major disintegrations produce kilometer-plus debris threatening species, while minor ones threaten civilizations. Real-world proof: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragmented into 21 separate nuclei after passing within Jupiter's Roche limit.
Clube's neo-catastrophist research on giant comets and Taurid stream
Key facts
- Victor Clube, along with colleagues William Napier and William Asher, proposed in the 1970s that cometary impacts played a greater role in planetary and civilizational history than mainstream science recognized
- Clube published "Comets in History and Science" and "Hazards from Space" (1994), arguing that large comets of heterogeneous composition break up under solar radiation
- Major disintegrations produce kilometer-plus debris affecting species survival; minor disintegrations produce sub-kilometer debris affecting civilization survival
- Clube co-authored works as early as 1979-1980 describing the comet life cycle and disintegration process
- Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was a single nucleus that fragmented into 21 separate nuclei after passing within Jupiter's Roche limit
Sources
Did a comet wipe out an ancient civilization? - Astronomy Magazineastronomy.com
Researchers find evidence of a cosmic impact at classic Clovis archaeological sites. The resulting smoke and soot, in addition to dust that blocked the Sun, ...
Comets play a role in the history of civilization - Phys.orgphys.org
A poem from the 15th century provides an impressive description of the nature of comets: "They bring fever, illness, pestilence and death, ...
Victor Clube - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
the Dark Ages, and even the English Civil War, are related to climate changes induced by exceptional deposition of cosmic dust in Earth's atmosphere.
Study: A Comet Hitting Earth May Have Helped Spark Civilizationfuturism.com
An ancient comet impact may have helped jumpstart human civilization, according to a study linking the collision to cultural and societal ...
Review: Ancient tales of death and disaster | New Scientistnewscientist.com
... Victor Clube and Bill Napier have been developing. ... have made a significant impact both on human civilisation and on the evolution
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