Arthur Holmes (January 14, 1890 – September 20, 1965) was a British geologist. January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth. ...

He performed the first uranium-lead radiometric dating specifically designed to measure the age of a rock during his undergraduate studies. His result was 370 Ma for a Devonian rock from Norway. He graduated in 1910, and the result was published 1911, after he already travelled to Mozambique for six months to prospect for minerals. He contracted blackwater fever and malaria so severe that an obituary was telegraphed back to Britain. However, he immediately left for home and recovered, and managed to avoid military service because of this during the first World War. General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic; corrodes to a spalling black oxide coat in air Atomic mass 238. ... This article is about the chemical element. ... Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials based on a knowledge of the decay rates of naturally occurring isotopes, and the current abundances. ... In some educational systems, an undergraduate is a post-secondary student pursuing a Bachelors degree. ... Annum is a Latin term meaning year. ... == == Disambiguation: Devonian is sometimes used to refer to the Southwestern Brythonic language, and the people of the county of Devon are sometimes referred to as Devonians The Devonian is a geologic period of the Paleozoic era. ... -1... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ... Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria characterized by intravascular haemolysis, haemoglobinuria and kidney failure. ... Red blood cell infected with Malaria, derived from male aria (Italian for bad air) and formerly called ague or marsh fever in English, is an infectious disease which causes about 350-500 million infections with humans and approximately 1. ... An obituary is a notice of the death of a person, usually published in a newspaper, written or commissioned by the newspaper (rather than written by relatives), and usually including a short biography. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

He joined the staff at Imperial College, where he pursued doctoral studies, obtaining a PhD in 1917. Imperial College London is a college of the University of London (although negotiations with regard to its withdrawal from the University are underway) and primarily focuses on science, engineering and medicine, complemented by a business school. ... PhD usually refers to the academic title Doctor of Philosophy PhD can also refer to the manga Phantasy Degree This is a disambiguation page — a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

He then took a job with an oil company in Burma, but the company went bankrupt and he had to return to England penniless in 1924. To make matters worse, his son had died of dysentery in Burma. He then became Professor of geology at Durham University, but moved on to University of Edinburgh later in his career (1943), retiring in 1956. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their creditors. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Dysentery is an illness involving severe diarrhea that is often associated with blood in the feces. ... Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history and the processes that shape it. ... Durham University is a university in England. ... The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He greatly furthered the newly created discipline of geochronology and published the world renowned book The Age of the Earth in 1913 in which he estimated the Earth's age to be 1600 Ma. Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Earth is the third planet in the Solar system. ...

He championed the theory of continental drift, even when he was in a small minority. He proposed that Earth's mantle contained convection cells that dissapated radioactive heat and moved the curst at the surface. His second famous book Principles of Physical Geology was published in 1944, which concludes with a chapter about continental drift. His later measurements of the age of the Earth (4,500 +/- 100 Ma) were based on measurements of the relative abundance of uranium isotopes by Alfred O. C. Nier. Portrayal of shifting continents The concept of continental drift was first proposed by Alfred Wegener. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic; corrodes to a spalling black oxide coat in air Atomic mass 238. ... Isotopes are forms of an element whose nuclei have the same atomic number - the number of protons in the nucleus - but different mass numbers because they contain different numbers of neutrons. ... Alfred Otto Carl Nier (May 28, 1911 - May 16, 1994) was a US physicist who pioneered the development of mass spectrometry and used it in innovative ways to establish some major scientific results. ...

He won the Wollaston Medal in 1956 and the Penrose Medal in the same year. The Arthur Holmes Medal of the European Geosciences Union is named after him. The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Penrose Medal was created in 1927 by R.A.F. Penrose, Jr. ... The European Geosciences Union (or EGU) is an interdisciplinary learned non-profit association open to individuals who are professionally engaged in or associated with geosciences, planetary and space sciences, and related studies. ...

A crater on Mars was named in his honor. Tycho crater on Earths moon. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ...

External links

• Geological Society of America: short biography
• European Geosciences Union: short biography
• http://www.strangescience.net/holmes.htm

Books

• Cherry Lewis, The Dating Game: One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth, ISBN 0521893127