Comet Madness: How the 1910 Return of Halley's Comet (Almost) Destroyed Civilization

Since the dawn of civilization, humans had believed comets were evil portents. In 1705, Edmond Halley liberated humanity from these primordial superstitions, proving that Newtonian mechanics rather than the will of the gods brought comets into our celestial neighborhood. Despite this scientific advance, when Halley's Comet returned in 1910, newspapers gleefully provoked a global hysteria that unfolded with tragic consequences.



In Comet Madness, author and historian Richard J. Goodrich examin...