Arthur HolmesDied 20 Sep 1965 at age 75 (born 14 Jan 1890).English geologist and petrologist was one of the foremost geologists of the twentieth century, who made major contributions to the geochronology of Africa, the genesis of igneous rocks, and physical geology. He developed a method of determining the age of the earth based on measurement of uranium decay in igneous rocks (which invalidated William Thomson Kelvin's hypothesis that the earth's age can be established on the basis of the planet's cooling from a initial molten state). Holmes' method proved to be remarkably accurate and laid the foundation of isotope geology. This was the first quantitative time scale for geology based on measuring the radioactive constituents of rocks. |
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