J. Laurence Kulp

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John Laurence Kulp (1921 - 2006) was a 20th century geochemist. He led major studies on the effects of nuclear fallout and acid rain. He was a prominent advocate in creationist circles in favor of an Old Earth and against the pseudoscience of flood geology. Kulp died on Sept. 25, 2006 at the age of 85.

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[edit] Early life and education

Kulp was raised in New Jersey and was brought up as a practically atheistic Episcopalian. As a young man he left the Episcopal Church and entered into fellowship with the Plymouth Brethren. He attended Drew University, then entered Wheaton College as a junior transfer student. He spent a year in graduate school at Ohio State University before moving to Princeton University, where he obtained a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1945.[1]

[edit] Scientific career

Kulp was professor of geochemistry at Columbia University between 1947 and 1965.[2] He was also at various times vice president for research and development at Weyerhaeuser Company, director of research of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, affiliate professor at the University of Washington, a consultant in environmental and energy affairs, and owner of Teledyne Isotopes.[3]

His primary field was radiometric dating, which was transforming the field of geology in the 1950s. He was a pioneer in the field of Carbon 14 dating and in 1950, established the Carbon 14 research centre at Columbia University, the second in the United States.[citation needed]

During the 1950s he helped convince politicians that atomic bomb testing was a danger to health in regard to strontium-90 finding its way into the human food chain.[4][5][6]

Kulp's research in radiometric dating included :

In 1960, using the findings of radiometric dating, he published a geological time scale estimating the age of each geological era.[12]

[edit] Strontium-90 nuclear fallout research

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Kulp led a team, financed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, that investigated the levels of strontium-90 finding itself into the human food chain through nuclear weapons testing. Strontium-90 was chosen as it can easily find its way into the human body by being first absorbed by vegetation. In February 1957, Kulp and his team reported that a human has typically about "0.12 micromicrocuries of strontium-90 for each gram of body calcium".[13] (A micromicrocurie is a millionth of a millionth of a curie.) The report estimated that by 1970, if no further atomic bomb testing was carried out, the average level would be about 1.3 micromicrocuries of strontium-90 for each gram of body calcium. The reason for the rise is due to the length of strontium-90 is able to stay in the stratosphere before gradually settling to earth. The report believed that what was considered a permissible level of 1200 micromicrocuries could be reached if nuclear bomb testing continued, especially in calcium deficient soils where vegetation would replace calcium with strontium-90 absorption.

The report made the front page of the New York Times on 8th February, 1957, and helped stimulate a fallout debate amongst the public, scientists and government.[citation needed] In June 1957 the National Academy of Science stated that both genetic effects and strontium-90 were potential long term hazards of nuclear weapons testing. This was the start of a long process in the restricting and banning of nuclear weapons testing.[citation needed]

[edit] Acid rain study

Kulp was the director of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, which was established by the United States Congress in 1980. In 1987 it issued an interim report stating that the effects of acid rain on the ecosphere in the U.S.A. was not particularly great.[14][15] This finding was controversial and the report was not well received, especially by environmentalists, and was considered by many to be politically incorrect. Most of the United States Congress also gave the report a hostile reception.[16] Kulp resigned as director soon after, for personal reasons.[17] Although the reports conclusions were subsequently endorsed by the scientific community,[18] the final report was prevented from being released by the Environmental Protection Agency until Congress had passed new rules in regards to S02 and N20 emissions in the fall of 1990.[19][20] This final report, released under James Mahoney as director, differed little to the interim report.[21]

[edit] Criticism of flood geology

Kulp was a leading figure in the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), a fellowship of scientists who are also Christians. He was a fierce critic of flood geology and young earth creationism.

His notability in this field can be seen in the influence that he and Bernard Ramm had on mainstream Christianity in regards to the attitude towards geology, especially in the 1950s. Prior to Kulp, many Christians were swayed by flood geology which was popularised by George McCready Price, a Seventh-day Adventist, in the 1920s. [22][23].

Kulp contributed more than any other scientist in splitting Conservative Protestants into the separate camps of "evangelicals" and "fundamentalists" [24]. As a generalization, the first group accept radiometric dating and old earth creationism, the second group, fundamentalists, believe in flood geology and young earth creationism.

Kulp approached geology with a critical eye but once convinced of the validity of a geological principle was not prepared to sacrifice well established scientific facts for the convenience of supporting the interpretation of the early Chapters of Genesis as given by mainstream "fundamentalists". He gained support from the Christian apologist Bernard Ramm who, in his support of Kulp in his criticism of flood geology, said "If uniformitarianism makes a scientific case for itself to a Christian scholar, that Christian scholar has every right to believe it, and if he is a man and not a coward he will believe it in spite of the intimidation that he is supposedly gone over into the camp of the enemy". [25]

Kulp's conclusions on the age of the Earth was that a Christian was faced with two choices. Either it was created millions of years ago or that God has deceived humanity in providing data which does not support a 6000 to 10000 year old Earth. He viewed "flood geology" as offering no third choice, that it was unscientific, ludicrous and "has done and will do considerable harm to the strong propagation of the gospel among educated people".[26] He viewed George McCready Price and his supporters as being ignorant of geology and, at times, deceitful in their misrepresentation of geological data when defending flood geology.

Although flood geology became popular again, mainly through the work of Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb, Jr. in their book The Genesis Flood in 1961, most Christians continue to reject flood geology as pseudoscience and affiliations such as the ASA and Answers in Creation frequently publish research generally favouring old earth creationism.

Old Earth Creationists feel that the issues raised in the critique of Flood Geology by Kulp [27] have, as yet, not been adequately addressed by those who support flood geology.

Davis A. Young[28], Greg Neyman and Hugh Ross, are, perhaps, the leading figures today now attempting to replace flood geology with sounder attempts of reconciling earth science with biblical interpretation.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Numbers(2006) pp 184-185
  2. ^ Oral history interview with J. Laurence Kulp, 1996., Catalog entry, AIP International Catalog of Sources
  3. ^ Obituary in Newsletter, American Scientific Affiliation, Jan/Feb 2007
  4. ^ Man and Strontium 90 - TIME
  5. ^ Chapter 13: The Practice of Secrecy
  6. ^ http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/ldeo/alum/assoc/documents/Kulp.pdf
  7. ^ Blackwell Synergy - Ann NY Acad Sci, Volume 91 Geochronology of Rock Systems Page 321-323, April 1961 (Article Abstract)
  8. ^ Potassium–Argon Ages on Rocks from Eastern Greenland
  9. ^ Potassium–Argon and Rubidium–Strontium Ages of some Granites from Britain and Eire
  10. ^ http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM42/AM42_154.pdf
  11. ^ http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0096-3771%28195211%2975:5%3c259:TC1MOA%3e2.0.CO%3b2-B&origin=ads
  12. ^ KGS-Stratigraphic Succession-Introduction
  13. ^ Man and Strontium 90 - TIME
  14. ^ Railsback's Graduate Students and their Academic Lineage
  15. ^ Regulation Magazine Vol. 13 No. 1
  16. ^ Newspaper ideological bias or "statist quo"? The acid (rain)
  17. ^ Acid-Rain Researcher Submits Resignation - New York Times
  18. ^ The EPA vs. Ed Krug
  19. ^ Newspaper ideological bias or "statist quo"? The acid (rain)
  20. ^ Reducing Acid Rain | Plain English Guide to The Clean Air Act | US EPA
  21. ^ PSCF 6-96 Edwin A. Olson A Response to Richard Wright's "Tearing Down the Green"
  22. ^ http://www.history.vt.edu/Barrow/Hist3706/readings/numbers.html
  23. ^ page 184 of The Creationists, by R.L. Numbers, 2006
  24. ^ page 184 of The Creationists, by R.L. Numbers, 2006
  25. ^ B. Ramm, The Christian View of Science and Scripture, p. 171
  26. ^ Critique of Deluge Geology
  27. ^ Critique of Deluge Geology
  28. ^ History of the Collapse of Flood Geology and a Young Earth

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] See also