• Question: Who came up with the theory of the world ending?

    Asked by kenny13 to Aggelos, Andrew, Eileen, Naomi, Shane on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Naomi Elster

      Naomi Elster answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      A lot of people have come up with theories about the end of the world. A French philosopher called Nostradamus was probably the most famous. He was a French pharmacist during the middle ages and he predicted that the world would end at the end of 1999 – and if that didn’t work, there were several other times that the world would end, for certain. Most of these times have now passed and we seem to be still here 🙂

    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      there have been quite a few doomsday questions on Im a Scientist so far, and i think ive found out why. The Ancient Mayan people who lived in Central America, around where Mexico is today, from about 2000 BC to 250 AD. They were very superstitious and several of their prophets made predictions for when “major events” would occur based on the movement of stars and planets. Some modern day people, mostly with nothing else better to do, have taken some of these predictions and come up with a date for the end of the world on 21st December 2012.

      People who actually study ancient Mayan literature and culture say there is no evidence in their writing for this date marking the end of the world. I certainly dont think these kind of predictions have any truth behind them, so I would stick with the plan to buy christmas presents for people – you wont get out of it that easily!

    • Photo: Eileen Diskin

      Eileen Diskin answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      Throughout the history of civilisation, lots of people have come up with this theory. I guess because its a little bit exciting to think about, even if it is scary too! It makes for some good films though, yeah?!

      But some of these predictions have already come and gone, and nothing has happened…so I don’t think that we need to worry too much!

    • Photo: Aggelos Zacharopoulos

      Aggelos Zacharopoulos answered on 22 Nov 2012:

      @kenny13,
      I suppose Christianity is one of the first to talk about the world ending in the “2nd coming”. It is not necessarily a bad thing in this case. St. John at Patmos in the Book of the Revelation wrote about what will precede the 2nd coming. That was around 90 AD.

      More people or relegions. even before Christianity, have come up with theories or prophesies about the world ending. I suppose everything that has a “start” should also have a “finish” (?)

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