I had a thought -- Avian, and everybody else, tell me what you think:

Ptolemy was a scientist, and he was working with available data at the time. A "Bad Astronomy" recipient wuold have to be one who

1. ignored available information at the time -- so a 19th century person proposing life on Mars does not fall into the category, but one proposing the Moon is in a crystal sphere would be.

2. Did not engage in the best practice (I hate the term, but oh well) of scientific endeavor. Lorentz thought there was an aether for light waves, but he did a rigorous mathematical treatment to justify it in light of the Michelson-Morely experimental results. Velikovsky, for example did none of this.

Does this work? I think it might help weed out the difference between honest mistakes and nut jobs. (Though I would not describe Velikovsky as such, his original proposal was interesting. He just didn't know when to give it up).

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