William R. Corliss

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William Roger Corliss (born August 28, 1926 - † July 8, 2011 ) was an American physicist and non-fiction author , who mainly through his extensive collections of material on anomalous phenomena . Gained notoriety. Arthur C. Clarke described him as " Fort today's - and far more scientific - successor." He is considered one of the outstanding personalities in modern anomalistics .

Act

From 1974 on, Corliss published an extensive series of manuals as part of its "Sourcebook Project" . Each volume in this series is dedicated to a specific individual science ( archeology , astronomy , geology, etc.) and presents articles that mostly come from scientific journals . Corliss was inspired by Charles Fort , who had also collected reports on unusual phenomena decades earlier. In contrast to Fort, however, Corliss held back with personal expressions of opinion or editorial comments. He preferred to let the posts speak for themselves. Corliss presented all relevant parts of his articles in the “Sourcebooks” as literal quotations with precise references, and he often also reproduced complete articles including the illustrations. In doing so, he often took up older material that had already been mentioned in Charles Fort's works.

In his book "Unexplained!", The ufologist and anomalist Jerome Clark describes Corliss as "basically conservative in his views". He explains that “Corliss [is] more interested in unusual weather, ball lightning , geophysical curiosities , unusual mirages and the like; in short, of anomalies that [...] are far less likely to upset mainstream scientists than those that delight Fort, such as UFOs , monstrous creatures, or other kinds of extraordinary events and entities . "Arthur C. Clarke also noted:" Unlike Fort, Corliss picks his material almost exclusively from scientific journals like Nature and Science , not newspapers, so it has already been subjected to a filtering process that removes most of the hoaxes and reports of obvious weirdos. Nonetheless, there is much in some of these reports from highly reputable sources that is quite puzzling. "

Corliss' activity as a science author was by no means limited to the "Sourcebook Project". In total, he wrote a large number of articles about 50 books, including 13 textbooks on astronomy , space and space travel for NASA , as well as a similar number of works for the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation .

Fonts

  • Propulsion Systems for Spaceflight (1960)
  • Radioisotopic Power Generation (with DG Harvey, 1964)
  • Space Probes and Planetary Exploration (1965)
  • Scientific Satellites (1967)
  • Mysteries of the Universe (1967)
  • Teleoperator Controls (with EG Johnsen, 1968)
  • Mysteries Beneath the Sea (1970)
  • Human Factors Applications in Teleoperator Design and Operation (with Johnsen, 1971)
  • History of NASA Sounding Rockets (1971)
  • Man and Atom (with Glenn T. Seaborg , 1971)
  • History of the Goddard Networks (1972)
  • The Interplanetary Pioneers (1972)
  • Strange Phenomena: A Sourcebook of Unusual Natural Phenomena (1974)
  • Strange Artifacts: A Sourcebook on Ancient Man (1974)
  • The Unexplained (1976)
  • Strange Life (1976)
  • Strange Minds (1976)
  • Strange Universe (1977)
  • Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena (1977)
  • Strange Planet (1978)
  • Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts . 1978 ( archive.org ).
  • Mysterious Universe: A Handbook of Astronomical Anomalies (1979)
  • Unknown Earth: A Handbook of Geological Enigmas (1980)
  • Wind Tunnels of NASA (1981)
  • Incredible Life: A Handbook of Biological Mysteries (1981)
  • The Unfathomed Mind: A Handbook of Unusual Mental Phenomena (1982)
  • Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights, and Related Luminous Phenomena (1982)
  • Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Precipitation, and Related Weather Phenomena (1983)
  • Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds, and Related Phenomena (1983)
  • Rare Halos, Mirages, Anomalous Rainbows, and Related Electromagnetic Phenomena (1984)
  • The Moon and the Planets (1985)
  • The Sun and Solar System Debris (1986)
  • Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos (1987)
  • Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, Submarine Canyons (1988)
  • Anomalies in Geology: Physical, Chemical, Biological (1989)
  • Neglected Geological Anomalies (1990)
  • Inner Earth: A Search for Anomalies (1991)
  • Biological Anomalies: Humans I (1992)
  • Biological Anomalies: Humans II (1993)
  • Biological Anomalies: Humans III (1994)
  • Science Frontiers: Some Anomalies and Curiosities of Nature (1994)
  • Biological Anomalies: Mammals I (1995)
  • Biological Anomalies: Mammals II (1996)
  • Biological Anomalies: Birds (1998)
  • Ancient Infrastructure: Remarkable Roads, Mines, Walls, Mounds, Stone Circles: A Catalog of Archeological Anomalies (1999)
  • Ancient Structures: Remarkable Pyramids, Forts, Towers, Stone Chambers, Cities, Complexes: A Catalog of Archeological Anomalies (2001)
  • Remarkable Luminous Phenomena in Nature: A Catalog of Geophysical Anomalies (2001)
  • Scientific Anomalies and other Provocative Phenomena (2003)
  • Archeological Anomalies: Small Artifacts (2003)
  • Archeological Anomalies: Graphic Artifacts I (2005)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "William R (oger) Corliss," in: Contemporary Authors Online . Gael. July 3, 2002
  2. ^ William J. Broad, "The science corps wants a few more good heretics", in: The New York Times , October 16, 1983, A 18.
  3. ^ Arthur C. Clarke, "Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography," Gollancz, 1990, p. 110
  4. ↑ Jerome Clark, "Sourcebook Project", in: Unexplained! , Detroit, Visible Ink Press, pp. 466-467
  5. ^ Arthur C. Clarke, "Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography," Gollancz, 1990, p. 110
  6. ^ Adrian Hope, "Finding a Home for Stray Fact," in: New Scientist , July 14, 1977, p. 83
personal data
SURNAME Corliss, William R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Corliss, William Roger (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1926
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 2011