RE: Interesting Google tech talk on QM

['Chris de Morsella <cdemorse...@yahoo.com>' via Everything List]

 

 

From: everything-list@googlegroups.com
[mailto:everything-list@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of meekerdb
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2014 2:09 PM
To: everything-list@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Interesting Google tech talk on QM

 

On 4/23/2014 9:49 AM, 'Chris de Morsella  <mailto:cdemorse...@yahoo.com>
<cdemorse...@yahoo.com>' via Everything List wrote:

Do someone know the estimate of the age of the universe at the time of Mark
Twain? Einstein though it was infinite, and I thought that many physicists
(including believer in Big Bang(s)) don't exclude that.

 

Didn't most people still subscribe to that English or Scottish Bishops
calculation based on bible verse that concluded the earth and the universe
was some 6000 or so years ago in 4400 BC? There are far too many, in this
country at least - who still do believe in this fairy tale.

Chris


In the late 1800's William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) estimated the age of the
Sun and he finally settled on a value of 20 to 40 million years.  This was
based on gravitational energy - nuclear fusion was unknown.  Darwin noted
that this was to short a time for evolution to have taken place, and so in a
sense Darwin used an anthropic inference to postulate nuclear energy.  Twain
would have known Thompson's estimate and so might have said "millions" based
on it.  But, aside from the Abrahamic superstitions, educated people like
Twain generally assumed the universe was static and eternal.  In which case
he might well have said "billions".

 

It was 1897 when he formulated that age estimate - so technically still in
the 1800's by a thin margin. Amazing that so recently (1897 is just a mere
117 years ago) our knowledge of our universe was still so limited. Mark
Twain -- aka Samuel Clemens - was quite a free thinker from what I have
learned of his life and work, so I would not be surprised in the least, if
he thought along the lines you suggest. 

The average person of that era was probably more likely to believe in the
Abrahamic fairy tale of the universe - again this is an opinion I have not
done the research.

Chris

 

 



Brent

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