On September 1–2, 1859, one of the largest recorded geomagnetic storms occurred. Aurorae were seen around the world, those in the northern hemisphere even as far south as the Caribbean. Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving telegraph operators electric shocks. Telegraph pylons threw sparks. In June 2013, a joint venture from researchers at Lloyd’s of London and Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) in the United States used data from the Carrington Event to estimate the current cost of a similar event to the US alone at $0.6–2.6 trillion. The reason for this is based on the proliferation of electrical and electronic devices now in use in the world, most of which would be “fried” by such an enormous CME. (Coronal Mass Ejection.)
Once again we are at the maximum of the Solar Cycle, when sunspots are most numerous, and therefore the chance of CMEs occurring is also at maximum. If such an event as that in 1859 were to occur, then millions would soon die as a result of the destruction of power lines and transformers, and the failure of all electrical equipment.
However, this scenario has been advertised frequently in the news media, and I will not take up further space writing about it. There is another factor about the timing of the Carrington Event which must now occupy our attention. This concerns the publication of Charles Darwin’s book “On The Origin of Species”.
After the meeting of the Linnaean Society on July 1st 1858, in which Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace presented their respective papers on “Evolution”, Darwin decided to write “an abstract of my whole work”. He started work on 20 July 1858, while on holiday at Sandown, and wrote parts of it from memory. Lyell discussed arrangements with publisher John Murray III, of the publishing house John Murray, who responded immediately to Darwin’s letter of 31 March 1859 with an agreement to publish the book without even seeing the manuscript, and an offer to Darwin of 2⁄3 of the profits. On the Origin of Species was first published on Thursday 24 November 1859.
Therefore it was within this period of time, from July 1858 until November 1859 that the Carrington Event occurred, on 1stSeptember 1859, and it does promote the suggestion that it may have been as a result of Divine Anger at the arrogance of man to dethrone God from His Creation. Recognising the Hand of Judgment is never an easy task, and one needs to be free from dogmatism, but the possibility is placed here for serious thought.
