Charles Leroy Ellenberger (1942 - 2025, known as C. Leroy) was an advocate,Kronos Vol. X No. 3 (Summer 1985) p.24 "Contributors." Invited defenses of Velikovsky were published in Zetetic Scholar, Biblical Archaeology Review, Astronomy, and Frontiers of Science. but later a critic, of controversial writer Immanuel Velikovsky and his works on catastrophism. He first read Worlds in Collision in 1969.Ellenberger, C. Leroy (1979). Heretics, Dogmatists and Science's Reception of New Ideas. Kronos Vol. IV No. 4, pp. 60-74. In 1979, he became a contributing editor (and later Senior Editor & Executive Secretary) to the Velikovsky-inspired Kronos journal,Kronos Vol. IV No. 4 (Summer 1979) p. Cover iii "Contributors." and has contributed material to many other publications.For example, Ellenberger has had Velikovsky-related material published in Science Digest, New Leader, The Humanist, Industrial Research & Development, Fate, and the SIS Review, (ref: Kronos Vol. IV No. 4 (Summer 1979) p. Cover iii "Contributors"), and articles on other subjects in Analog, New Scientist, Penthouse, Science Digest, Fate and Pursuit (ref: Kronos Vol. X No. 3 (Summer 1985) p.24 "Contributors"). In Physics Today he rebutted Robert V. Gentry on polonium halos (Dec. 1984, pp. 91-2) and on absolute dating (Mar. 1986, pp. 152, 154). In 1980 he was selected by the editor of Astronomy magazine to debate James Oberg on Velikovsky.Ellenberger, C. Leroy (1980). Oberg in Confusion. Astronomy October, pp. 26-28, replying to Oberg's Forum essay "Predictions in Collision" in July issue and Ellenberger, Leroy (1981). Velikovsky Redux. Astronomy February, p. 36, replying to Oberg's letter in December issue.
His confidence in the validity of Velikovsky's ideas was shaken in January 1982 when Kronos sponsored his attendance at the semi-annual AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C., in order to distribute information on Velikovsky. In a wide-ranging conversation with Jeremy Cherfas, then a writer for the British weekly science magazine New Scientist over how the press misunderstood Velikovsky, Cherfas had counter-arguments to many points that Ellenberger was not able to rebut.Ellenberger, Leroy (1992). Of Lessons, Legacies, and Litmus Tests: A Velikovsky Potpourri (Part One). Aeon III, 1. pp. 86-105. According to Professor of Social Theory Alfred de Grazia at New York University, "By 1983 Ellenberger was preparing to abandon much of quantavolution and found now that the story of Velikovsky was not without its shady tones, and more important, that Arctic ice cores and bristlecone pine dating technologies were directly contradicting Holocene quantavolutions . . . ; further, that Gentry's studies of the surprising 'instant' polonium halos of creation . . . were probably invalid."Grazia, Alfred de (1984). Cosmic Heretics, Metron Publications, Princeton, New Jersey. . p. 372. Quantavolution.org
Henry Bauer described Ellenberger's role in the Velikovsky scene as follows: ". . . was a confidant to Velikovsky, a frequent visitor (often with camera) from April 1978 to his death in November 1979, and a Senior Editor of the Velikovskian journal Kronos, until the evidence forced him to conclude that Velikovsky's scientific claims were baseless. Velikovsky inscribed his copy of Ramses II and His Time 'To Leroy who is consumed by the sacred flame of search for truth', 20 May 1978, and gave him permission to sell 'Velikovsky's right!' T-shirts. Alfred de Grazia, impetus for The Velikovsky Affair (1966), appointed him chronicler of the continuing Velikovsky controversy in 1980.
Ellenberger's last contact with Velikovsky was a phone call from him two days before he died."Bauer, Henry (1996). Editorial Prologue by Henry Bauer. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 10 (4), 561; UGA.edu Also, he "has tried unceasingly but to little avail to have his former colleagues acknowledge the accumulating evidence, for example, from Greenland ice cores, that Velikovsky's claimed catastrophes did not in fact occur. Ellenberger points out, too, that Velikovsky's writings have become superfluous: astronomically plausible argument and speculation about relatively recent cosmic catastrophism can now be found in the work of Victor Clube and Bill Napier (The Cosmic Serpent, 1982; The Cosmic Winter, 1990), where the testimony of myth and historical records is also taken into account."Bauer, Henry H. (1996). Velikovsky, Immanuel. in Stein, Gordon (editor), The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Press. . p. 783.
Ellenberger had degrees in chemical engineering and finance & operations research (B.S., Washington University in St. Louis; M.B.A., University of Pennsylvania). He was a Medical Article Retrieval Specialist in St. Louis, Missouri."C. Leroy Ellenberger - Medical Article Retrieval Specialist." (Web site)
Velikovskian critic
In 1984, Ellenberger noted:
" Over the past four years I have come to appreciate that, even if Velikovsky were right, there are good physical reasons why astronomers and other scientists have opposed him so tenaciously. Unfortunately, many of these reasons, often based on information developed since Velikovsky wrote his books, have never been discussed in Velikovskian forums or have never been discussed in a fully informed manner. Examples of the former include the Worzel Ash, ice cores, and plate tectonics. Examples of the latter include tree rings, ice age dynamics, geomagnetism, and cosmic electricity.
" Most often, spokesmen for mainstream science such as Sagan, Asimov, Gardner, and Oberg have not expressed their criticisms using valid arguments but, rather, tend to substitute polemic, ridicule, and caricature for serious discussion. The resulting performances are riddled with errors and are received by Velikovskian partisans with diminished credibility. Their fixation on Velikovsky's text to the exclusion of later researchers in Pensée and KRONOS has also been a source of frustration. As a result, focus has been shifted away from substantive criticism in depth with more cogent criticisms having gotten side-tracked."Kronos Vol. X No. 1 (Fall 1984) "Still Facing Many Problems (Part I)", pp. 87-102: showing that the evidence from the Worzel ash, tree rings, and Greenland ice cores does not support Worlds in Collision.
Ellenberger's most widely read criticisms of Velikovsky were two 1985 correspondences to Nature: "Falsifying Velikovsky" vol. 316, p. 386,Ellenberger, C. Leroy (1985). Falsifying Velikovsky (correspondence). Nature, 316 p. 386: "SIR--In his review of Henry Bauer's Beyond Velikovsky, Owen Gingerich observes: 'Although science cannot prove that a Velikovskian scenario is impossible, it might well prove that it did not happen'. Although Gingerich selects Peter Huber's analysis of the Babylonian Venus tablets for this purpose, they simply are not decisive enough. Indeed, Rose and Vaughan's critique of Huber, to which Gingerich alludes, is stronger than he allows. "The best evidence proving Velikovsky's scenario did not happen is provided by Greenland's Dye 3 ice core. This core is continuous and datable by counting annual layers back at least 7,200 years. Velikovsky's catastrophes should have left unequivocal markers in the ice. Not only are the expected heavy dust layers absent, but volcanic acid fallout, identified with ancient eruptions in the Velikovskian time frame, is comparable in amount to that associated with single, recent eruptions. This is not what would be expected if catastrophes of the magnitude described by Velikovsky had actually happened. C. Leroy Ellenberger, 3929A Utah Street, St Louis, Missouri 63116, USA Gingerich, O. Nature 314, 692-693 (1985). Rose, L.E. & Vaughan, R.C. Kronos X:2, 1-12 (1985). Dansgaard, W. et al. Science 218, 1273-1277 (1982). Hammer, C.U. et al. Nature 288, 230-235 (1980). Ellenberger, C.L. Kronos X:1, 97-102 (1984)." and "Velikovsky's evidence?" vol. 318, p. 204, and two 1987 letters to the editor in New York Times: May 15, p. 14,Immanuel Velikovsky 40 Years Later: Not to Be Taken Seriously, NYtimes.com and August 29, p. 14.Eruption That Destroyed Thera Left Crete's Civilization Intact; Theory Also Exploded, NYtimes.com While citing these publications, Richard J. Huggett, Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of Manchester, averred that Ellenberger "has, since his conversion to the anti-Velikovsky camp in 1984, relentlessly and mercilessly tried to show why Velikovsky's ideas were downright silly. . . ."Huggett, R. J. (2002). Cranks, conventionalists and geomorphology. Area 34(2), 182-189. The second Times letter was rebutted by Clark Whelton in a letter published September 29.Catastrophism Can Still Explain Earth's Changes, NYtimes.com Although the Times did not print Ellenberger's point-by-point surrebuttal to Whelton's letter,Whelton in Unordnung, UGA.edu it was distributed (a) privately by mail with the September 1, 1987 "Dear Friends" letterInformation on Velikovsky, posted to talk.origins 22 August 1997, UGA.edu and (b) to all attendees at the August 1990 "Reconsidering Velikovsky" Conference in Toronto.
In 1994, Ellenberger's invitation to a conference on Velikovsky was rescinded, due to other participants' stating that they would not attend if he participated.Henry H. Bauer, Science Or Pseudoscience: magnetic healing, psychic phenomena, and other heterodoxies (2001) University of Illinois Press, p.154, (Bauer's book misreports the conference year as 1992.)Ellenberger (1997). Hysterical Velikovskians Flee Own Frankenstein-Mongoose! DIO, 7 (1), 30-33., DIOI.org This incident came about through the efforts of a group of individuals who in 1992 had deleted the section "Magnetism, Dynamos and Neptune""Magnetism, Dynamos and Neptune" posted to sci.skeptic and talk.origins by James J. Lippard, 25 Apr 1994, as an example of what Aeon considered unacceptable: Skepticfiles.org from Ellenberger's memoir for AeonEllenberger, Leroy (1992). Of Lessons, Legacies & Litmus Tests: A Velikovsky Potpourri, Part 1. Aeon, 3 (1), 86-105. that explained the ignorance of Velikovsky and many of his supporters concerning the role of electromagnetism in astronomy and the origin of planetary magnetic fields. Previously, he was an invited speaker at Milton Zysman's August 1990 "Reconsidering Velikovsky" Conference at University of Toronto, identified on the program as "Velikovsky's most unrelenting critic" who was interviewed for The Globe and Mail,Balsara, Nilu (1990). Earth a dangerous planet, writer warns. The Globe and Mail, August 20, 1990. and he was the keynote speaker at the August 1992 Canadian Society for Interdisciplinary Studies conference in Haliburton, Ontario. He is also the author of the article "Top Ten Reasons Why Velikovsky Is Wrong About Worlds In Collision" which he says:
".. is based on 30 years exposure to Velikovsky's ideas which includes 8 years as an insider at the Velikovsky journal Kronos (1978 - 1986), confidant to Velikovsky (4/78 - 11/79), invited "Devil's Advocate" at Aeon ('88 - '91),Letter, David Talbott to C. Leroy Ellenberger, August 31, 1988 and 13 years as a turncoat/critic interacting with Velikovsky's defenders and/or successors at conferences, in private, and in Usenet ('94 -'96) & list-serve forums.""Top Ten Reasons Why Velikovsky Is Wrong About Worlds In Collision "