Houses and Streets

UB103
Cometa Halley Street

In 1910 there was much expectation worldwide for Halley’s Comet. The planet Earth was inside the tail of the comet, on May 18. Panic seized many people, as they believed that the tail was made up of deadly gas and particles. Actually, it was a harmless burst of light. But the panic was general, and preachers appeared announcing the end of the world. Suicides, construction of underground shelters, unrestrained sexual activity, heart attacks, hysterical crises, crowded churches, money wasted on entertainment, unpaid debts…were examples of some reactions to the psychological influences of the comet.

For the most lucid minds it was a fabulous show, with one night and early morning, from May 18 to 19, of special scientifically interesting.

During 1910, the journalist Luis Gil Sumbiela reported in “Las Provincias” newspaper, on the incidents of the comet’s passage, from scientific explanations to attacks against ignorance, against those who believed that the world was ending. The comet became a symbol of the supremacy of science over ignorance. Various towns dedicated a street to him, Algímia among them.