Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13.4 Arthur Holmes
c. 1911. Reproduced by kind
permission of the Geological
Society of London.
by Atomic Disintegration, which reported that uranium as a whole
decayed more rapidly in the past, and therefore the dates derived from
it could be overestimated by 25%. The English geologist Arthur
Holmes (Figure
13.4
) argued in 1924 that at worst, errors of a few
per cent might be determinable for what became known as the radio-
metric method. Holmes was right to be optimistic: the objections
were soon negated by further research.
Strutt's and Boltwood's work combined to be among the most
innovative and brilliant advances in the annals of geochronology.
Strutt went on to a career in the Royal College of Science in London,
while poor Boltwood ended up having a nervous breakdown brought
on by the strain of overwork, and while recuperating on the Maine
coast in August 1927, he became depressed and committed suicide. He
was only 57 years old.
