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He performed the first uranium- lead radiometric dating specifically designed to measure the age of a rock. His result was 370 Ma for a Devonian rock. The result was published 1911, after he already travelled to Mozambique to prospect for minerals. He contracted malaria so severe that an obituary was telegraphed back to Britain. However, he immediately left for home and recovered.
Later in his career, he took a job with an oil company in Burma, but the company went bankrupt and he had to return to England penniless. To make matters worse, his son had died of dysenteryDysentery is a severe diarrheal illness often associated with blood in the feces. There are two major types: shigellosis which is caused by one of several types of Shigella bacteria; and amoebic dysentery which is caused by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytic in Burma.
He greatly furthered the newly created discipline of geochronologyIntroduction Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments. A variety of dating methods are used by geologists to achieve this. Dating methods Radiometric techniques measure the decay of radioactive isotopes, and oth and published the world renowned book The Age of the Earth in 19131913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. click on link for calendar) Events January-March January 30 House of Lords rejects Irish Home Rule Bill February 1 New York City's Grand Central Station opens as the world's largest train station. February 3 Th in which he estimated the EarthEarth also known as the Earth or Terra is the planet on which we live, the third planet outward from the Sun. It is the largest of the solar system's terrestrial planets, and the only planetary body that modern science confirms as harbouring life. The pla's age to be 1600 Ma.
He championed the theory of plate tectonics20th century. Plate tectonics (from the Greek word for "one who constructs", τεκτων tekton ) is a theory of geology developed to explain the phenomenon of continental drift. In the theory of plate tectonics the outermost par from its start, even when he was in a small minority. His second famous book Principles of Physical Geology was published in 1944Events World War II January January 4 The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. January 5 Murder of Danish playwright Kaj Munck January 17 British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River. January 20 The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin;, which concludes with a chapter about plate tectonics. His later measurements of the age of the Earth were based on measurements of the abundance of isotopeIsotopes are atoms of a chemical element whose nuclei have the same atomic number, Z but different atomic weights, A''. The word isotope meaning at the same place comes from the fact that isotopes are located at the same place on the periodic table. The as by Alfred O. C. Nier.
He won the Wollaston Medal in 1956. The Arthur Holmes Medal of the European Geosciences Union is named after him.
A crater on Mars was named in his honor.