Richard Goodrich – Comet Madness

In 1705, Edmond Halley liberated humanity from the belief that comets were portents of doom; two centuries later, when Halley’s Comet returned to its perihelion, newspapers, misguided theorists, and shameless con men managed to reignite that fear. When astronomers announced that the earth would pass through the comet’s tail, opportunists exploited human anxiety—often with fatal consequences.  

Join Dr. Richard J. Goodrich, author of Comet Madness: How the 1910 Return of Halley’s Comet (almost) Destroyed Civilization, for an entertaining lecture about the comet’s 1910 return and the reasons that many believed the earth would not survive this deadly encounter.