Opus – Page 205 – Encyclopædia of the sublime

Immanuel Velikovsky

Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision, a book which asserts, among many other things, that the planet Venus did not exist until recently. Some 3500 years ago in the guise of a gigantic comet, it grazed Earth a couple of times, after having been ejected from the planet Jupiter some indefinite time earlier, before settling into its current orbit. Velikovsky (1895-1979), a psychiatrist by training, did not base his claims on astronomical evidence and scientific inference or argument. Instead, he argued on the basis of ancient cosmological myths from places as disparate as India and China, Greece and Rome, Assyria and Sumer.

Roy Chapman Andrews

Roy Chapman Andrews was an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History. He is primarily known for leading a series of expeditions through the fragmented China of the early 20th century into the Gobi Desert and Mongolia. The expeditions made important discoveries and brought the first-known fossil dinosaur eggs to the museum.

Concrete ships

Concrete ships are built of steel and concrete instead of more traditional materials, such as steel or wood. The oldest known concrete watercraft was a dinghy built by Joseph-Louis Lambot in Southern France in 1848. Lambot's boat was featured in the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1855.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Despite its name, this is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.

The Beale ciphers

The Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertexts, one of which allegedly states the location of a buried treasure of gold, silver and jewels estimated to be worth over USD$40 million as of 2010.

King Penguin

King Penguin books was a series of pocket-sized monographs published between 1939 and 1959. The books were the first Penguins to feature hardback covers as well as color printing.

Observer’s Books

The Observer's Books are a series of small, pocket-sized books, published by Frederick Warne & Co in the United Kingdom from 1937 to 2003. They covered topics such as hobbies, art, history and wildlife. Intended for children, the aim of these books was to interest the observer.

Red tides

Red tide is a phenomenon caused by algal blooms during which algae become so numerous that they discolor coastal waters.

Titan arum

The titan arum, also called corpse flower, is known for its massive foul-smelling inflorescence (cluster of flowers). The plant is endemic to the steep hillsides of rainforests in western Sumatra but is cultivated in botanic gardens worldwide.

Halley’s Comet

Halley's Comet is the best-known of the short-period comets, and is visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years. Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye, and thus, the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime. Other naked-eye comets may be brighter and more spectacular, but will appear only once in thousands of years. Halley's returns to the inner solar system have been observed by astronomers since at least 240 BC, and recorded by Chinese, Babylonian, and mediaeval European chroniclers.