Hugh Auchincloss Brown (23 December 1879 – 19 November 1975) was an electrical engineer who advanced a theory of catastrophic pole shift. Brown claimed that massive accumulation of ice at the

poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

caused recurring tipping of the

axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

in cycles of approximately 4000–7500 years. He argued that because the earth wobbles on the axis and the crust slides on the mantle, a shift was demonstrably imminent, and suggested the use of

nuclear explosion A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, t ...

s to break up the ice to forestall catastrophe. Brown graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1900. He is a grandson of the Scottish American merchant Hugh Auchincloss (1780–1855), who founded a mercantile company which became known as J & H Auchincloss, or Auchincloss Brothers. Through his mother, Matilda Auchincloss (1824–1894), Brown was a cousin of businessman Hugh D. Auchincloss Sr. and first cousin once removed of stockbroker and

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

heir Hugh D. Auchincloss Jr., stepfather of

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...

and

Lee Radziwill Caroline Lee Bouvier ( ), later Canfield, Radziwiłł (), and Ross (March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), usually known as Princess Lee Radziwill, was an American socialite, public-relations executive, and interior decorator. She was the y ...

. Through his father, Horatio Silas Brown, he was descended from

John Howland John Howland (February 23, 1673) accompanied the English Separatists and other passengers when they left England on the to settle in Plymouth Colony. He was an indentured servant and in later years an executive assistant and personal secretary ...

, a signatory of the

Mayflower Compact The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the ''Mayflower,'' consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, an ...

, and

Elizabeth Tilley Elizabeth Tilley (December 21, 1689) was one of the passengers on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' and a participant in the first Thanksgiving in the New World. She was the daughter of Mayflower passenger John Tilley and his wife J ...

, a fellow ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

'' passenger.

Works

* ''Popular awakening concerning the impending flood'' (privately printed 1948)
''Cataclysms of the Earth''
(1967)

References

External links

13 September 1948 * * * 1879 births 1975 deaths Catastrophism Pole shift theory and theorists {{geologist-stub Columbia School of Mines alumni Auchincloss family