This week, we’re talking about Halley’s Comet Panic of 1910. Comets have long been seen as omens of disaster, bad luck, or death. Even with scientific advancements and solid historical proof that Halley’s Comet had passed Earth repeatedly without incident, its return in 1910 caused widespread panic. After a frightening prediction by French astronomer Camille Flammarion, people across the world prepared for the end of life as they knew it. From anti-comet pills to comet-proof umbrellas, people were willing to try just about anything to survive being consumed by the poisonous tail of the comet. 

Highlights: 

The Halley’s Comet Panic of 1910 was a nearly unbelievable widespread panic about the approach of a comet that had already passed Earth without incident hundreds of times. Highlights of this week’s episode include: 

• A look at omens in ancient history and how they shifted as science, religion, and humans evolved. 
• The work of Edward Halley, the astronomer that correctly predicted the schedule of the comet’s flybys of Earth. 
• Other times in history that comets were treated as harbingers of doom. 
• Camille Flammarion’s prediction that set the world into a panic as Halley’s Comet approached.
• How people reacted to the news that the world may be ending, including charlatan cures and comet-proofing measures. 
• What happened when Halley’s Comet approached Earth on May 19, 1910. 
• The aftermath of Halley’s Comet Panic. 
• What we have learned about comets since that flyby. 

Links: 

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Sources: 

https://www.wired.com/2015/01/fantastically-wrong-halleys-comet/

https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1955/5/14/the-panic-over-halleys-comet

https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2012/dec/20/apocalypse-postponed-halley-comet

https://astronomy.com/news/2020/10/halleys-comet-covid-19-and-the-history-of-miracle-anti-comet-remedies

https://daily.jstor.org/the-long-history-of-comet-phobia/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/halleys-comet-1910

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