The 2024 Legal Defense Fundraiser has ended early due to the Board's decision to settle the suit. Donations will go towards the creation of a legal defense fund. Discussion on the matter can be found at the RationalMedia Foundation noticeboard. Thank you for your generous support.
Maurice Cotterell
The fault in our stars Pseudoastronomy |
![]() |
Adding epicycles |
Epicyclists |
Maurice Cotterell (1952–) is a British writer whose publications promote forms of alternative science and supposed ancient prophesies. He calls his writing style "adventure fact".[1]
His writings argue that the 28-day spinning Sun regulates fertility in females[2] and that it determines the personality of the foetus in the womb, corresponding to sun-sign astrology.[3] He says that the Sun causes schizophrenia, that mobile/cell phones and overhead power lines cause cancer, and that TV and computer screens cause miscarriages. He also believes that the Sun brings periodic catastrophic destruction to Earth every few thousand years.
Codebreaking
Cotterell claims that in 1989 he found a way (not detailed) of calculating the duration of long-term magnetic reversals on the Sun. Using this knowledge, he believes he was able to break the codes of ancient sun-worshipping civilizations:
He then claims he cracked the "codes" (methodology also not detailed) of the Terracotta Warriors of China, and the Celts of Europe.
He claims that his own unique decoding process "reveals amazing pictures from archaeological treasures that explain the spiritual mysteries of life; why we are born, why we die and why this has to be."[1]
Gravity
Because of his own faulty understanding, Cotterell denies the validity of Newton's equation. He maintains that there's "a problem" with it which is never discussed because scientists are too embarrassed by it.[5]
He has also said that when an object, such as a gyroscope, is spun it becomes weightless.[6] He cites a demonstration by the engineer Eric Laithwaite which emphatically did not show that.
In 2018 Cotterell wrote an essay[7] about the difficulty of landing on Mars, which he ascribed to the fact that engineers do not take into account the centrifugal forces generated by the planet's rotation. He wrote: Newton failed to recognize, in his equation, that a falling body is also under the influence of 'centrifugal force' caused by the spinning of the Earth on its axis.
That statement is categorically wrong, since a body not in contact with a planet cannot possibly be affected by centrifugal forces.
Literary
Cotterell's woo-laden tree corpses are, sadly, best-sellers, published by Simon & Schuster.[8] You can however read his book The Amazing Discoveries of Maurice Cotterell: Synopsis on his web site (as a series of images).[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.mauricecotterell.com/index.htm
- ↑ How the sun controls Fertility in Females (mauricecotterell.com)
- ↑ How the sun determines Personality (mauricecotterell.com)
- ↑ The Man who broke the code of Maya Carving (mauricecotterell.com)
- ↑ Maurice Cotterell is wrong about everything --Emoluments of Mars blog, 12 January 2017
- ↑ Coast to Coast AM, 11 January 2017
- ↑ Why Landers Crash into Mars. Cotterell maintains that 10 of 18 Mars soft-landing attempts have failed. However, his list is inflated with the failures of Phobos 1 and Phobos 2, which were never intended to land on the planet.
- ↑ http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Maurice-Cotterell/410049851
- ↑ The Amazing Discoveries of Maurice Cotterell: Synopsis (mauricecotterell.com)