Abstract
(1) THE determination of the past duration of solar radiation, and, consequently, the problem of the age of the inhabitable earth, imposes upon theories of radiation a difficulty the magnitude and fundamental importance of which appear to be too infrequently considered. The difference in the time-scales derived from the gravitational theory of solar energy and from geological and astronomical observation is not one of a few per cent. (or less) of the basic quantities involved, as is generally the case with the discrepancies that have led to conspicuous modifications of radiation theories; the discrepancy is rather a matter of a hundred to one, or even of a thousand or more to one. A more glaring disagreement could scarcely be imagined between a generally accepted and thoroughly workable theory on one hand, and, on the other, a mass of observation now too extensive and varied to be denied and some equally formidable physical laws.
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References
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SHAPLEY, H. Globular Clusters, Cepheid Variables, and Radiation. Nature 103, 25–27 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/103025c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/103025c0
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