Author Sketch: Immanuel Velikovsky

     Immanuel Velikovsky was a Russian born Jew, and American independent scholar. He shared a part in the founding of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was a highly regarded psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He was motivated in his research by his beliefs in the Scriptural accounts of the Genesis flood, and the Exodus from Egypt.
     Considered "one of the most controversial scientists of our times," he lived before the modern creation movement. Even though Velikovsky did not believe in a young earth, creationists find support in his writings.
     Rejected by the scientific community of his day, Velikovsky published his ideas in a book series for the lay people. Though initially rejected, some of his ideas, such as the earth being surrounded by the magnetosphere, have been proven correct.
     Velikovsky's two main ideas, upon which he based his work are: 1. geological evidence of "terrestrial catastrophism", caused by near encounters of earth with other planets in the solar system, and 2. a revised chronology of Egypt and the Middle East. Being of the viewpoint that the conventional chronology is flawed since it doesn't correlate with the Biblical accounts, Velikovsky strove to match history with Scripture.
     Using as evidence the geological record along with myths, legends, and written historical accounts from ancient civilizations, Velikovsky's work was viewed by the wider scientific community as based on legends rather than facts. The great controversy this brought about is known as "the Velikovsky Affair."
     Today there are other historians who have worked on developing these ideas of revised chronologies of ancient histories, and Velikovsky's writings on geology have been very useful to the modern creationist movement. Although out of print, his writings are valuable to those who take Scripture as truth and are seeking to understand how history and geology support the Biblical accounts.

Books written by Immanuel Velikovsky:

Worlds in Collision
Ages in Chaos
Earth in Upheaval
Oedipus and Akhnaton
Peoples of the Sea
Stargazers and Gravediggers
The Dark Age of Greece

Sources used:

http://www.bio-plasmics.org/velikovsky/velikovsky.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Velikovsky
World History Made Simple: Matching History with the Bible/ Ruth Beechick pg. 118

Note: This is not an endorsement of ideas.