Lord Kelvin (William Thompson) estimated that the sun could not have
illuminated the earth for more than about 100 million years. His calculation
was contrary to the Uniformitarian school of geology. Geologist Charles
Lyell argued that the forces in nature were constant and uniform and that
the earth in the past was pretty much as it is today--no origin for the
earth. This conclusion by Kelvin were based on the principle of the
conservation of energy. Of course, this old estimate has been superseded by
the notion of nuclear energy that increases the lifetime of the sun into the
10 billion years instead of 100 millions.
Take care,
Moorad
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Clarke <jdac@alphalink.com.au>
To: Moorad Alexanian <alexanian@uncwil.edu>
Cc: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: Reading Behe... Any thoughts?
>Deare Moorad
>
>Pardon the interjection but I have a question.
>
>You wrote to George Andrews:
>
>> Dear George,
>>
>> Cosmologists taught the geologists a lesson with the notion of an
evolutionary
>> universe.
>>
>
>What lesson was this and when did it occur?
>
>God Bless
>
>Jonathan
>