Robert V. Gentry Explained

Robert Vance Gentry
Birth Date:July 9, 1933
Death Date:January 28, 2020 (aged 86)
Birth Place:Chattanooga, Tennessee
Death Place:Loma Linda, California
Field:Nuclear physics
Alma Mater:University of Florida
Known For:Young Earth creationist interpretations of radiohalos

Robert Vance Gentry (July 9, 1933 – January 28, 2020) was an American young Earth creationist and nuclear physicist, known for his claims that radiohalos provide evidence for a young age of the Earth.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Thesis

Gentry noted that the 218 polonium radio halos only formed at temperatures below 300 degrees and were visible for less than 3 minutes, thus requiring the Precambrian granites where they are to have formed by a quick process yet "mysterious" [13] cold, highlighting the singularities of the continental crust [14] [15] in relation to the oceanic crust. When questioned in debates that defended the thermal paradigm in the formation of the earth's rocks, Gentry challenged them to then reproduce Precambrian granites containing the same,[16] in miniature, since such a process should then be able to imitate the formation of granites containing halos. After unanswered decades, Australian geologist Andrew Snelling proposed "a model in which hydrothermal fluids separated 222 Rn and their parents' Po isotopes 238 U in zircons and transported them over very short distances along cleavage planes in the host and adjacent, biotites until 222 Rn decays and the Po isotopes were chemically concentrated in radiocentres, to later produce the Po radiohalos.[17]

Career

Gentry received a master's degree in physics from the University of Florida, and then worked in the defense industry in nuclear weapons research.[11] In 1959, he was influenced by a verse he read in the Bible while looking at polonium halos, and subsequently converted to Seventh-day Adventism. Thereafter, he entered the doctoral program at Georgia Institute of Technology, but left when he was refused permission to work on the age of the Earth for his dissertation.[18]

By this time he was convinced that radiohalos might be the key to determining the age of the Earth, and might be capable of vindicating flood geology. He continued to work on the subject at home using a small microscope and attempted to publish his results (minus his creationist conclusions) in one or more peer reviewed scientific journals. In 1969, while Gentry was affiliated with an Adventist college in Maryland, Oak Ridge National Laboratory invited him to use their facilities, as a guest scientist in the hope that his work on radiohalos might lead to discovering super-heavy elements. This relationship was terminated as a result of his participation in McLean v. Arkansas.[11]

Claims and criticism

Gentry has had strong disagreements with other creationists over some details of flood geology.[19] A number of creationists, including fellow Seventh-day Adventists, have criticised his work.[11]

In the late 1970s, Gentry challenged the scientific community to synthesize "a hand-sized specimen of a typical biotite-bearing granite" as a test of his claims. The scientific response was dismissive. Geologist G. Brent Dalrymple stated:[11] "As far as I am concerned, Gentry's challenge is silly. … He has proposed an absurd and inconclusive experiment to test a perfectly ridiculous and unscientific hypothesis that ignores virtually the entire body of geological knowledge."

In 1981, Gentry was a defense witness in the McLean v. Arkansas case over the constitutional validity of Act 590 that mandated that "creation science" be given equal time in public schools with evolution.[20] Act 590 was ruled to be unconstitutional (a verdict that was upheld by the Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard).

Gentry has devised his own creationist cosmology and filed a lawsuit in 2001 against Los Alamos National Laboratory and Cornell University after personnel deleted ten of his papers about his cosmology from the public preprint server arXiv.[21] On 23 March 2004, Gentry's lawsuit against arXiv was dismissed by a Tennessee court on the grounds that it lacked territorial jurisdiction, as neither defendant in the case was considered to have a significant presence in the state of Tennessee.[22]

His self-published book Creation's Tiny Mystery was reviewed by geologist Gregg Wilkerson, who said that it has several logical flaws and concluded that "the book is a source of much misinformation about current geologic thinking and confuses fact with interpretation." Wilkerson also noted that the book contains considerable autobiographical material and he observed that "[i]n general I don't think educators will find it's worth their time to tread through this creationist's whining."[23] This criticism of Gentry's "frequent whining about discrimination" has also been made by fellow creationists, who concluded that "his scientific snubs resulted more from his own abrasive style than from his peculiar ideas", according to critic Ronald L. Numbers, a historian of science.[11]

Selected publications

Further reading

  1. Wise . Kurt . Kurt Wise . Radioactive Halos: Geological Concerns . Creation Research Society Quarterly . 25 . 4 . . March 1989 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090805092227/http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/abstracts/sum25_4.html . 2009-08-05.
      1. Ellenberger, C.L., with reply by Gentry, R.V. 1984. "Polonium Halos Redux," Physics Today. December 1984. pp. 91–92
  2. Ellenberger, C.L. 1986. "Absolute Dating," unanswered surrebuttal to Gentry, Physics Today. March 1986. pp. 152, 156
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  8. Osmon, P., 1986, "Gentry’s pleochroic halos: Creation/Evolution," Newsletter, Feser, Karl D., Editor, v. 6, no. 1, Concord College, Athens, West Virginia
  9. Schadewald, R., 1987. "Gentry’s tiny mystery, Creation/Evolution" Newsletter, Fezer, Karl D, Editor, v. 4, no. 2 & 3. Concord College. Athens. West Virginia, p 20.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Implications on unknown radioactivity of giant and dwarf haloes in Scandinavian rocks . Gentry . R. V. . 274 . 5670 . 457–459 . August 1978 . 2021-02-02 . en . 10.1038/274457a0 . Christie . W. H. . Smith . D. H. . 1476-4687 . Nature . 1978Natur.274..457G . 4296730 .
  2. Reinvestigation of the α-activity of Conway granite . Gentry . R. V. . 273 . 5659 . 217–218 . May 1978 . 2021-02-02 . en . 10.1038/273217a0 . Halperin . J. H. . Ketelle . B. H. . 1476-4687 . Nature . 1978Natur.273..217G . 4211367 .
  3. Web site: Orion Foundation: Exposing the Flaws in the Big Bang Theory . 2016-03-03 . 2021-02-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172624/https://orionfdn.org/ . 2016-03-03 .
  4. Fossil Alpha-Recoil Analysis of Certain Variant Radioactive Halos . 160 . 3833 . Science . 1968 . 1 April 2015 . en . 10.1126/science.160.3833.1228 . 17818744 . 1968Sci...160.1228G . 10932798 . Gentry . Robert V. . 1228–1230 .
  5. Giant Radioactive Halos: Indicators of Unknown Radioactivity? . 169 . 3946 . Science . 1970 . 1 April 2015 . en . 10.1126/science.169.3946.670 . 17791843 . 1970Sci...169..670G . 33001798 . Gentry . Robert V. . 670–673 .
  6. Web site: Scopus preview - Gentry, Robert V. - Author details - Scopus . 2021-02-02 . www.scopus.com .
  7. Lead Retention in Zircons . Gentry . Robert V. . 223 . 4638 . 835 . 1984-02-24 . en . 10.1126/science.223.4638.835-a . 0036-8075 . Science . 17737758 .
  8. Differential Lead Retention in Zircons: Implications for Nuclear Waste Containment . Gentry . Robert V. . 216 . 4543 . 296–298 . 1982-04-16 . 2021-02-02 . en . 10.1126/science.216.4543.296 . Sworski . Thomas J. . McKOWN . Henry S. . 0036-8075 . Science . 17832745 . 1982Sci...216..296G . 13356142 .
  9. Web site: Origin of Polonium Halos . National Center for Science Education . 2010 . 1 April 2016 . en .
  10. Web site: Polonium Halos: Unrefuted Evidence for Earth's Instant Creation. Earth Science Associates.
  11. Book: Numbers , Ronald . Ronald Numbers

    . Ronald Numbers . The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition . Harvard University Press . November 30, 2006 . 978-0-674-02339-0 . 280–282 . The Creationists .

  12. Web site: Robert Vance Gentry . Dignity Memorial . 10 January 2021.
  13. 'Spectacle' array of 210 Po halo radiocentres in biotite: a nuclear geophysical enigma . Gentry . Robert V. . 252 . 5484 . 564–566 . December 1974 . 2021-02-01 . en . 10.1038/252564a0 . Hulett . L. D. . Cristy . S. S. . 1476-4687 . Nature . 1974Natur.252..564G . 4153578 .
  14. The geochemical composition of the terrestrial surface (without soils) and comparison with the upper continental crust . Hartmann . Jens . 101 . 1 . 365–376 . 2012-01-01 . en . 10.1007/s00531-010-0635-x . Dürr . Hans H. . Moosdorf . Nils . 1437-3262 . International Journal of Earth Sciences . 2012IJEaS.101..365H . 128396716 . free .
  15. The difference between oceanic and continental tholeiites: a fluid dynamic explanation . Campbell . I. H. . 91 . 1 . 37–43 . 1985-09-01 . 2021-02-02 . en . 10.1007/BF00429425 . 1432-0967 . Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology . 1985CoMP...91...37C . 129273961 .
  16. Web site: Evidence for Earth's Instant Creation - Polonium Halos in Granite and Coal - Earth Science Associates . 2021-02-02 . www.halos.com .
  17. Radiohalos: A Tale of Three Granitic Plutons . Snelling . Andrew . 5 . 1 . 2020-10-05 . 2021-02-02 . Armitage . Mark . 2639-4006 . Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism .
  18. Book: Numbers , Ronald L. . The creationists: from scientific creationism to intelligent design . Harvard University Press . Expanded . 2006 . 280 . registration . 978-0-674-02339-0.
  19. http://www.halos.com/faq-replies/index.htm Exchanges
  20. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mclean-v-arkansas.html McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education
  21. http://www.halos.com/faq-replies/arxiv-lawsuit.htm Lawsuit Filed
  22. http://www.orionfdn.org/papers/nature-04-01-2004.htm Retribution denied to creationist suing arXiv over religious bias
  23. Gregg Wilkerson, "Creation's tiny mystery Review" in Reviews of Creationist Books ed Liz Rank Hughes, National Center for Science Education, 1992. page 55

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