Anaximander Anaximander boldly asserts that the earth floats free in the centre of the universe, unsupported by water,

pillars, or whatever. This idea means a complete revolution in our understanding of the universe. Obviously, the earth hanging free in space is not something Anaximander could have observed. Apparently, he drew this bold conclusion from his assumption that the celestial bodies make full circles. More than 2500 years later astronauts really saw the unsupported earth floating in space and thus provided the ultimate confirmation of Anaximander's conception. The shape of the earth, according to Anaximander, is cylindrical, like a column-drum, its diameter being three times its height. We live on top of it. Some scholars have wondered why Anaximander chose this strange shape. The strangeness disappears, however, when we realize that Anaximander thought that the earth was flat and circular, as suggested by the horizon. For one who thinks, as Anaximander did, that the earth floats unsupported in the centre of the universe, the cylinder-shape lies at hand. Thales He explained his theory by adding the analogy that the earth is at rest because it is of the nature of wood and similar substances which have the capacity to float on water, although not on air (Cael. 294 a30-b1). In Metaphysics (983 b21) Aristotle stated, quite unequivocally: 'Thales . . . declared that the earth rests on water'. This concept does appear to be at odds with natural expectations, and Aristotle expressed his difficulty with Thales's theory (Cael. 294 a33-294 b6). 1 - The Cartesian Hypothesis - *Rene Descartes' speculation about "vortices" of swirling gas 2 - Swedenborg's Nebular Hypothesis - *Emmanuel Swedenborg's theory about a rapidly rotating cloud of gas which produced our solar system 3 - Kant's Nebular Hypothesis - *Immanuel Kant's imaginary "repulsive forces" 4 - Buffon's Collision Hypothesis - *Georges de Buffon's comet theory of planetary origin 5 - LaPlace's Nebular Hypothesis - *Georges LaPlace's gas disk which throws off "rings" 6 - Darwin's Tidal Hypothesis - *George Darwin's high tide which floated the moon into place in the sky 7 - Chamberlain and Moulton's Planetesimal Hypothesis - They invented meteors which glued themselves into planets 8 - Jeans-Jeffreys' Tidal Hypothesis - These two came up with a theory about a strand of gas which changed into "beads," and then became our solar system 9 - Von Weizsacker's Nebular Hypothesis - *Carl Von Weizsacker's theory about roller bearings, shot from the sun, which produced the planets and moons 10 - Whipple's Dust Cloud Hypothesis - *Fred Whipple's idea that "light rays" from the stars pushed dust into clouds, and "local turbulences" condensed into planets, stars, and moons 11 - Kuiper's Protoplanet Hypothesis - Gerald Kuiper's "chance eddies" of swirling gas which changed into planets and stars 12 - Lemaitre's Primeval Atom Hypothesis - Lemaitre's immense "super atom" mysteriously appeared, then exploded, expanded, and produced planets and stars 13 - Big Bang Hypothesis - *Gamow, *Alpher, and *Herman dream up this theory, which claims that nothing existed in the Universeexcept a dot which exploded 14 - Hoyle's Steady State Universe - *Fred Hoyle's continuous creation of hydrogen theory, which, in 1965, he repudiated and disproved. 15 - Alfven's Ambiplasma Hypothesis - *Hannes Alfven's "koinomatter" which shrank and then exploded, with help from antimatter 16 - Gamow's Oscillating Universe Theory - *George Gamow abandoned his Big Bang theory, in favor of this one, which has an infinite number of contractions and explosions 17 - Guth's Inflationary Hypothesis - *A.H. Guth's theory, which is also unworkable

18 - Misner's Mixmaster Theory - *C.W. Misner decided to use a kitchen appliance to explain his theory that the universe regularly oscillates between a cigar shape and pancake shape