Man Will complete Knowledge of Science, Enter Utopian Era, Predicts Le Corbeillier

Taking a long, lingering glance into the future, Philippe Le Corbeillier, lecturer on Applied Physics, predicts in the May issue of Atlantic Monthly a complete solution of scientific problems, followed by a long stable period of world society.

Comparing our present knowledge of the universe with human knowledge about the earth just before the discovery of America, Le Corbeillier points out that just as no one then could predict the number of undiscovered continents, so today the realm of undiscovered scientific knowledge seems infinite.

However, an Le Corbeillier sees it, chemistry and physics will soon realize the final important facts about the structure of matter, possibly as soon as the end of the present century.

At this juncture, only biology, psychology, and sociology will remain to be mopped up, a process that will take from 500 to 1,000 years, after which human knowledge about scientific matters will be complete and the turmoil due to the upsetting of scientific discoveries will end.

When this stage is reached, the world will go through a stable period of several thousand years, after which another revolution will spring up from some reason as unintelligible to present-day man as science would have been to his Neander that predecessor, according to Le Corbeillier.

Le Corbeillier's article is one in a series which the French-born mathematician and philosopher has written for the Atlantic Monthly.