Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 12.1 John Joly (1857-
1933) inMay 1901, shortly after
the publication of his paper on
sodium and the age of the Earth
(Geological Museum, Trinity
College Dublin).
Admiralty on signalling and safety at sea. During the First World War
he bombarded the government with inventions that he felt would help
the war effort.
On Joly's death Dixon inherited his house Somerset, which was
set in a leafy mature southside suburb in Dublin, and moved his
family in. They did not have to move far - the Dixons together with
their three sons lived across the road. Although Dixon outlived his
friend by 20 years, in death they were reunited, and now share a grave,
together with Dixon's wife Dorothea, in Dublin's Mount Jerome
Cemetery, a now rather decayed Victorian necrological park.
JOHN JOLY
Two questions need to be raised at this stage: what part do these
yachtsmen play in the story of the age of the Earth, and what is the
significance of their Killiney Bay trip to the present story? To answer
