IS THE WORLD DOOMED?

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1929, Page 3

IS THE WORLD DOOMED?

DESTROYED AT ANY MOMENT MAY CRASH INTO SPACE. WHAT CAUSES STARS' TO BLAZE. The smallest fluctuation in the earth’s temperature is bound to be followed by the extincition of life and would mean the end of the human race, recently declared Sir Oliver Lodge, the famous British scientist, in a lecture delivered before the student hotly and the professors of the Paris University. The English savant attempted to.give an answer to the question: “Is the World Doomed?” and stated that the possibility of the world being desroyed by some terrific celestial collision, such as are constantly taking place in the upper strata of the ether, is not excluded. The destruction of the earth would be only one of the many catastrophes which are almost daily taking place out in space, ho said. “We often see stars blazing up to excessive brightness and then die down again. They become only visible to us perhaps three or four centuries after they actually blaze up, because of their great distance and the time taken by light to arrive. BLAZE IS A MYSTERY. “It is uncertain what causes stars to blaze up in this way, but a suggestion may bo given,” continued Sir Oliver. “The stars are all journeying through space with great velocity, and as long as they move through empty space or through ether, nothing happens, they move quite freely and without resistance. But if they entered an area containing diffuse matter, nebulae, or a cosmic cloud, they would blaze, just as meteors become incandescent when they strike the upper strata -of our earth’s atmosphere. They are immediately reduced to dust through the terrific friction. “What may happen to meteors on a small scale may happen with the earth, if a big star encountered the outer rim of the earth’s atmosphere.” The sun. which is itself a great incandescent star, might some moment or other enter into friction with another immense body and develop a. terrific heat, which, shot out through space, would crumble up everything existing on earth, including all life. Sir Oliver intimated.

In order that such a disaster might happen, something must go wrong with the sum. This constitutes the greatest danger to the earth. But although this contingency is not imposible, it is very remote, and need not cause any worry at tho present time.. “The world has already lasted an immense time in a habitable condition, certinly a hundred million years, as we may know, from the record of the rocks. Life has slowly evolved from the lowest forms. Astronomically speaking, the human race is in its infancy. Human beings will probably go on inhabiting the earth for other millions of years. Nobody needs to be deterred in his labours by the fear that the world will soon come to an end.