Word: barghoorn
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When did life begin on earth? Harvard Paleobotanist Elso S. Barghoorn and his onetime student, J. William Schopf, discovered a possible answer to that intriguing question several years ago, when they found microscopic fossils in ancient South African rocks. These tiny traces of life indicated that single-celled creatures existed as long as 3.1 billion years ago. Now a team headed by Schopf himself has found evidence that could push the dawn of life back at least another 200 million years...
According to Barghoorn, most researchers agree that amino acids are probably absent but that the story of porphyrins is still very unclear...
...Another group headed by Edward L. Fireman, lecturer on Astronomy, has determined the time some samples have been exposed to cosmic rays by studying the radioactivity in the samples. Then, the very important subject of the organic substances and their possible implications about life are studied by Elso S. Barghoorn, professor of Botany. Finally, special types of moon rock called anorthosites which give clues about the moon's formation are studied by Ursula B. Marvin and John A. Wood, both associates of the Harvard College Observatory...
PROBABLY the question most often asked about the moon before 1969 was, "Is there life or has there ever been life on the moon?" The answer can now be stated emphatically-No. As Barghoorn said, "The moon is an utterly dead body...
...Barghoorn discussed the absence of life on the moon, and showed slides of suspected organisms which had turned out to be composed of glass or other organic substances...