Hollow Earth Theory

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The theory of the hollow earth was a scientific theory from the 17th century, according to which the earth was not a solid spherical body, but a hollow sphere, so the earth's core and (mostly) the earth's mantle did not exist. The interior of the earth should therefore be accessible through various openings, for example large openings in the area of ​​the poles . Although scientifically refuted and rejected by more recent findings, the theory of the hollow earth , as well as the idea of ​​an inner world cosmos , remained the subject of pseudoscientific and conspiracy-theoretical conjectures and a popular motif in fantastic literature .

history

Halley with a diagram of the hollow earth

The first scientifically based theory was proposed by Edmond Halley in 1692. Isaac Newton had calculated that the moon was 1.76: 1 denser than the earth. Based on the general view that all matter in planets and moons is of the same density, Halley concluded that part of the earth must be hollow. He had also observed that the earth's magnetic field changes over time. He assumed that the earth consists of a central sphere and three hollow spheres concentrically surrounding it, roughly the size of the moon and the planets Mercury and Venus. Each of these bodies has its own magnetic field, and since they rotate at different speeds, there is a changing overall magnetic field on the surface of the earth. Since it was previously assumed that all celestial bodies were inhabited, he also colonized the inner planets. This hollow-earth theory was the first conclusion to be drawn from Newton's new theory of gravity in the Principia , even before Halley's prediction of a comet in 1695.

On March 6, 1716, very bright auroras were observed in England and large parts of Europe for the first time after the Maunder minimum , which were even visible during the day. The Royal Society asked Halley to explain these phenomena. He attributed it to the fact that the earth's crust is thinner in northern latitudes, which means that the light shines through from the cavities. When the 80-year-old Halley was portrayed as the Astronomer Royal , he was depicted with a diagram of the hollow earth.

The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler discussed in a thought experiment in his Lettres à une princesse d'Allemagne whether the earth (like the other planets) is hollow and illuminated by an inner “sun”, “which gives warmth and light to a superior inner-terrestrial humanity ".

The Scottish physicist and mathematician Sir John Leslie placed two small suns in the center, which he named Pluto and Proserpine.

In the early 19th century, the theory of hollow earth by John Cleves Symmes jun. (1780–1829, captain in the US Army) expanded to include the imaginative idea of ​​the existence of two navigable polar seas that could be used to get into the interior of the earth. In 1826, James McBride published Symmes' Theory of Concentric Spheres . Symmes moved Congress to fund an expedition to the South Pole , where, according to him, an opening into the interior of the earth should be. The expedition was started, but failed on the way due to mutinies.

As early as the 19th century, also through considerations of density, the first well-founded doubts about the hollow earth theory arose. It has been observed that the mean density of the earth, at 5.52 g / cm 3, is considerably greater than the density of rocks on the earth's surface, which is normally between 2 and 3 g / cm 3 . From this knowledge it follows, contrary to the theory, that the density must increase with increasing depth. In 1906 the British geologist Oldham published the first seismological evidence of an earth core. In 1936, the Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann demonstrated the existence of an inner core of the earth, for which a radius of around 3,500 km was later determined. At the latest with this the theory of the hollow earth was refuted. Today the inner structure of the earth is known with much more details, including the density profile, the magnetic field and the thermal balance and none of these indicate a large cavity.

Literary implementations

Book cover of the 1874 English edition of the novel by Jules Verne

The theory of the hollow earth influenced Ludvig Holberg's novel Niels Klim's underground journey (1741), Edgar Allan Poe's work Arthur Gordon Pym, and became generally known through Jules Verne's novel The Journey to the Center of the Earth . It was also picked up by Vladimir Obruchev with plutonies . Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs settled his fictional continent “ Pellucidar ” also in the inner surface of a hollow earth.

In Arno Schmidt's satire Tina or about immortality (1955) there is the " Elysium " in the hollow earth , in which all people continue to live as long as they are still remembered on earth - especially those who are remembered in writing.

The Steampunk -novel Hollow Earth (AKA The Hollow Earth ) of the mathematician and science fiction - author Rudy Rucker is about people (in this context Erdoberflächenbewohnern), including Edgar Allan Poe , in the (fictional) world descend inside the earth. In the afterword the author gives a brief overview of the genesis of the novel, the historical sources used , the gravitational conditions in a hollow sphere and the wormhole , which in his version of the hollow world theory is located in the center of the hollow earth.

The stories in the series of computer adventure games Myst are based on the D'ni civilization that existed inside the earth. In the accompanying series of novels (→  Das Buch Atrus ) , the culture and living spaces of the D'ni are described in detail.

In his novel Gegen den Tag , published in 2006, the American author Thomas Pynchon describes in a pastiche on adventure literature from around 1900 how an airship crosses the earth through its hollow interior from pole to pole.

Since 2006 the radio play series Die Schwarze Sonne by Günter Merlau ( Lausch - Fantastic Radio Play ) has also dealt with the myth of the hollow earth. In it, the hollow world theory is placed in the context of real-historical and fictitious action elements.

In the Canadian science fiction / mystery television series Sanctuary - Guardians of the Creatures (from season 3, episode 6), the hollow earth played a recurring role in the occurrence of abnormalities.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Halley 1692, pp. 563-578
  2. ↑ Quoted in Halley 1692, p. 574. In fact, however, the earth is 1.65: 1 denser than the moon.
  3. ↑ Gerhard Müller: Structure and condition of the earth's core, part I. Physikalische Blätter 31.6 (1975), pp. 246-256 ( PDF ).
  4. ↑ Gerhard Müller: Structure and condition of the earth's core, Part II. Physical sheets 31.7 (1975), pp. 309–315 ( PDF )

literature

  • E. Halley: An account of the cause of the change of the variation of the magnetic needle with an hypothesis of the structure of the internal parts of the earth: as it was proposed to the Royal Society in one of their later meetings. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 17 (1692), pp. 563-578. DOI: 10.1098 / rstl.1686.0107
  • E. Halley: An Account of the Late Surprizing Appearance of the Lights Seen in the Air, on the Sixth of March Last; With an Attempt to Explain the Principal Phenomena thereof; As It Was Laid before the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, JVD Savilian Professor of Geom. Oxon, and Reg. Soc. Secr. Philosophical transactions, xxix (1716), pp. 406-428.

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