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Imploding stars, shifting continents, and the inconstancy of matter

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Abstract

Two revolutionary concepts of the twentieth century—continental drift and the existence of superdense stars and black holes—had extended histories which ran in curious parallel for five decades. Between the wars each encountered a fierce and emotionally charged resistance which may have had a common psychological root. Each threatened man's instinctive faith in the permanence of matter.

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Work supported by Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and by NSERC of Canada.

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Israel, W. Imploding stars, shifting continents, and the inconstancy of matter. Found Phys 26, 595–616 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02058234

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