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How did Kelvin calculate the age of the Earth?

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Earlier this year, I helped compile a Scientific American Classics issue called Determining the Age of the Earth. Classics ... Even less should we let that knowledge influence our judgment of the players, acting as they did in their own time, constrained by the concepts and data then available. read more

Mario Livio includes Kelvin's determination of the age of the earth as one of the greatest mistakes in the history of science in his recent book Brilliant Blunders. Mathematician Gil Kalai discussed Kelvin's mistakes in May on his blog Combinatorics and more, going deeper into the exact ways in which Kelvin's calculations failed to yield correct results. read more

The following explanations (1) of Kelvin's method, (2) its significance through history, and (3) modern invocations of Kelvin by creationists will help shed light on the larger conflict over the age of the Earth. read more

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