Word: hydrogen
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...times . . . it was believed as a matter of faith that man was created as man. Since then, science has led us back through a sequence of evolutionary events in such a way that there is no logical place to stop . . . until we come to a primeval universe made of hydrogen. But then we ask, 'Whence came the hydrogen?' and science has no answer. Is it any less awe-inspiring to conceive of a universe created of hydrogen with the capacity to evolve into man than it is to accept the creation of man as man? I believe...
...aftermath of Darwin, scientists grew increasingly confident that their questioning disciplines could eventually supply all answers, and were increasingly contemptuous of Genesis and all other parts of the Bible that conflict with science's discoveries. After World War II, when science capped humanity's plight with the hydrogen bomb, some scientists joined the nation's postwar religious revival. But eventually, though the churches had by then conceded much to science, many of the converts found them still too laden with ceremony and dogmatism for the scientific taste...
Beadle's statement implies that God set the universe in motion and then "retired," and this is an idea now much favored by scientific believers. Many, accepting this hydrogen-God, go on perforce to reject the person-God of Christianity. Beadle's credo thus seems to be central in the new terrain, though scientists' beliefs spread both ways in a wide spectrum from atheism to total faith...
...clever instrument that can tell the difference was the hit of an erudite conference that met at Venice to discuss new methods of archaeology. Called a proton magnetometer, the gadget is based on a principle of nuclear physics discovered only a few years ago. The nuclei of hydrogen atoms (protons) are, in effect, tiny magnets, and they line up like compass needles parallel to the earth's magnetic field. When nudged out of alignment, they oscillate for a few seconds, the speed of their oscillation changing with the local strength of the earth's magnetism. Buried objects that...
Bottle & Coil. The magnetometer displayed at Venice was developed by Oxford's Research Laboratory for Archaeology, following U.S.-designed electronic circuits. The working arm of the instrument is a small (about 5 oz.) bottle of plain water, which contains hydrogen and, therefore, protons. Surrounding the bottle is an electrical coil connected to a control box. The magnetometer is usually operated by two people, one of whom moves the bottle from point to point, while the other sits at the control box. To make an observation, the controller presses a button, shooting an electric current from a storage battery through...