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Nostradamus


The most famous of those who have supposedly been able to predict the future is a man named Nostradamus. He was a French apothecary (pharmacist) who published several predictions within his lifetime (1506-1566). His popularity is evident in that he is one of only a few authors whose work has rarely been out of print for over four-hundred years. This is because many people believe that his predictions have come true. They interpret his predictions in terms of what has happened recently in our history. For example, they say one of his predictions foretold the Challenger disaster in 1986 (it mentions nine people, when seven were in the shuttle). Another, they say, foresaw the rise of Adolph Hitler when it mentions “Hister” (really a location in Germany); and still another, that he accurately predicted the terrorist attacks of September 11. Nostradamus’s words, though, have been misinterpreted, so it seems like they fit well with the events we’ve seen; but in truth, his words can at best be loosely connected to those events.

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