What is Arthur Holmes?
'''Arthur Holmes''' (1890{{ndash}}1965) was an English [[geologist]]. He made two important contributions: the use of [[radioactive]] [[isotopes]] for dating [[minerals]], and the suggestion that convection currents in the [[Earth's mantle|mantle]] play an important role in [[continental drift]]. Holmes showed us that thermal convection currents were strong enough to move large land masses, which contributed to [[Alfred Wegener]]'s theory of continental drift or theory of [[Plate tectonics]]. [[Harry H. Hess]] (1906{{ndash}}1969) also supported this view. Holmes was a pioneer of [[geochronology]], and performed the first accurate [[uranium]]-[[lead]] [[radiometric dating]] while an undergraduate in London. This gave a date of of 370 mya to a [[Devonian]] rock from [[Norway]]. This result was published in 1911, after his graduation in 1910. Holmes worked on the problem of the [[age of the Earth]] all his life. He reached an approximately correct estimate by the 1940s of 4,500±100 mya. {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Arthur}} [[Category:1890 births]] [[Category:1965 deaths]] [[Category:English geologists]] [[Category:Structure of the Earth]]