The Dating Game
The Dating Game
One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth
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In this book, Cherry Lewis skilfully blends the history of gauging the age of the Earth with a biography of Arthur Holmes, a British geologist who was a pioneer of geochronology. When it was deeply unfashionable to do so in the early twentieth century, he spent many years trying to prove the great antiquity of the Earth, stating that it was 'perhaps a little indelicate to ask of our Mother Earth her age, but science acknowledges no shame'. Both fascinating and touching, this book appeals to a broad readership of both geologists and science enthusiasts.
- Skilfully interweaves scientific explanation with the biography of the greatest geologist of the twentieth century
- Shows how radioactivity was used to solve the greatest time question of all
- Explains, in nontechnical language, the discovery and development of radioactivity and the history of the atom
Reviews & endorsements
'… a gripping tale to tell … I would recommend it … to anyone who has the slightest interest in how our planet came to be the way it is.' John Gribbin, The Sunday Times
Product details
March 2012Paperback
9781107659599
268 pages
215 × 138 × 15 mm
0.4kg
25 b/w illus. 4 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Prelude to the game
- 2. A brief history of time
- 3. Darwin's sorest trouble
- 4. Mysterious rays
- 5. Doomsday postponed
- 6. Holidays in Mozambique
- 7. This vegetable prison
- 8. A brimful of promise
- 9. Liquid gold in Yenangyaung
- 10. Durham days
- 11. The Ardnamurchan affair
- 12. Rewards and retributions
- 13. Why does the sun shine?
- 14. The age of uranium
- 15. The age of the Earth
- 16. Loose ends
- Thanks and acknowledgements
- Selected bibliography.
