Author: Fedora C. Nwachukwu
The
idea of a hollow Earth first started with Sir Edmond Halley. A natural
philosopher, and royal astronomer in Britain, who lived from 1656 to 1742. He
is mostly remembered for the comet named after him, Halley's Comet.
He was the one who discovered that comets have long elliptical orbits. In 1691
he proposed to the British society, an idea that the Earth might be hollow with
three concentric smaller spheres each turning within the other. He also
suggested, there might be life inside the Earth. But, how did Halley come to
this conclusion?
Halley's Hollow Earth |
Halley
studied a lot of different scientific things, and the Earth’s magnetic field
was one of them. After he studied some anomalies or magnetic variations at the
Earth’s poles, he attributed it to the spheres inside the Earth, saying that
each sphere had its own magnetic field independent of the other. Also when the Aurora Borealis , occurred in 1716, Halley attributed it to luminous gases escaping from the hollow
Earth. Was Halley the only one to think that our Earth was hollow?
No,
Halley wasn’t the only one to come up with the idea of a hollow Earth. John
Cleves Symmes, an ex-soldier that took on reading and studying science was another
person who thought the Earth was hollow. Symmes suggested, the Earth was not
only hollow but there are vast openings at each pole through which we could
pass through to get to this hollow Earth. He was convinced that inside the Earth
was an unspoiled paradise. As at that time, nobody had been to the poles, but
Symmes’ idea sparked enough interest for Americans to spend public money on
sending an expedition. Off course, these expeditions failed to find any holes
at the poles; there was no scenic paradise or long lost advanced civilization. Would
the lack of proof make the idea of a hollow Earth go away?
The
Hollow Earth theory didn’t die out. Cyrus Reed Teed was another scientist who
believed in the hollow Earth theory. He most likely is the oddest, and in my
opinion the most foolish of them all. He was a scientist and a doctor, he had
attended a not-so-recognized medical school, and one night while he was working
in his lab with electricity, he claims he was visited by God. David Standish
wrote in his book, ‘Hollow Earth…’ that Cyrus claims God came to him in the
form of a very beautiful woman and told him, we as humans live inside a concave
earth, and what we see is an optical illusion.
Cyrus Teed’s Model of the Hollow Earth |
Believing that he was the second Messiah, he
changed his name to Koresh, the Hebrew translation for Cyrus, and soon he
founded his own religion called Koreshanity. The Koreshans lived in a secluded
community and tried to prove the earth was concave instead of convex with some
experiments. Needless to say, they lacked sufficient proof. Some people think
that Cyrus might just have been electrocuted while he was working in his lab
and instead of dying he saw a mind generated vision of God. What about today
does the idea of a hollow Earth still exist?
Even
today, many people still believe that there is a secret world right under our
feet. Some believe that Hitler was a hollow earth believer and instead of dying
in that bunker in 1945, he escaped with a few believers to the hollow Earth and
he is still there now basking under an anti-aging machine, plotting his
revenge. Although the idea of a hollow earth is not physically possible it’s
still a cool idea. Hollow Earth theories
sure have made some good stories even if they are not good science. It doesn’t
matter if some of the story is made up and not really based on science. If it
gets people thinking about the universe in which we live, and seeking more
information, then it has done something more than just entertain us.
Works Cited:
Fitting, Peter. Subterranean Worlds: A
Critical Anthology. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2004. Print.
Foot, Richard. “Trip
Proposed to Centre of Earth via Arctic Hole; HOLLOW PLANET THEORY; U.S.
Scientist, Believers to Sail on Icebreaker.” National Post [Canada]
National Edition, NEWS; Pg. A2. 30 May 2007. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe.
Web. 14 Oct. 2012.
Journey to the Center of the Earth. Dir. Eric Brevig. Prod. Charlotte H. Beau
Flynn. Perf. Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem. Warner Home
Video, 2008. DVD.
Simanek, Donald.
“Halley's Hollow Earth From his 1681
paper.” Photograph. lhup.edu. N.p. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/hollow/morrow.htm
Standish, David. Hollow Earth: The Long and
Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced
Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines below the Earth's Surface. Cambridge,
MA: Da Capo, 2007. Print.
Warren,
Michael. "Koreshan State Historic Site: 'The Ghosts of Florida's New
Jerusalem'" Florida Traveler. N.p., 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 19 Oct.
2012.
Warren, Michael.
“Hollow Earth Globe at the Koreshan Unity.”
Photograph. floridatraveler.com.
N.p. 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 19 Oct. 2012
Wigston,
Nancy. "A World Apart; Restored Complex of Koreshan Unity Cult Tells the
Tale of a Universe Turned Inside-out." Www.lexisnexis.com.library.usca.edu.
Reed Elsevier Inc, 11 Dec. 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.
Links for further research:
Florida Traveler http://floridatraveler.com/koreshan-state-park/
Some information about the ‘Koreshan State Historic Site’ in Florida. It gives some background information on the hollow Earth theory.
Lock Haven University
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/hollow/morrow.htm
Article with detailed information and pictures about the hollow Earth theory. Provides lots of information about various scientist that believed and supported this theory
The Hollow World of Edmond Halley http://www.dioi.org/kn/halleyhollow.htm
Focuses on the life of Sir Edmond Halley, including his contribution to the Hollow Earth Theory.
Nyc Article
ReplyDeleteNice article...
ReplyDeleteVery well written. I've never heard of the hollow earth theory. Very informative.
ReplyDeleteUmm this is really nice...
ReplyDeleteI find this interesting..
When I first read this, I had to crosscheck the authors name cos I thought it was written by Erich Segal or Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code). This is a well researched article Fedove, its worth posting online. Guess if I have a term-paper to write, I'll add this article as one of my reference material. Make us proud Girl!!!
ReplyDelete