Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity

Lecture 4: Evidence and the Nature of Science

at the University of Chicago, Willard Libby (1908–1980) developed practical

ways of using these techniques of “radiometric dating” in archaeology. In

1953, Clair Patterson of the California Institute of Technology used similar

“radiometric” techniques to show that the solar system was about 4.5 billion

years old. These and other new dating techniques, most developed since

the Second World War, provide the evidence for the chronologies we use

in this course.

We have seen that science makes strong, but not absolute, claims on the

truth, and that its claims are based on evidence. We have also seen how, in

just the last century, revolutionary new dating techniques have provided the

evidence needed to construct a rigorous account of the past extending back

well before the appearance of written records. Ŷ

Calder, Timescale.

Christian, Maps of Time, app. 1.

Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Toulmin and Good¿ eld, The Discovery of Time.

1. How can nonscientists best decide whether or not to trust the claims
   made by modern science?


2. How did the evolution of modern dating techniques, such as radiometric
   dating, transform our understanding of the past?

Essential Reading

Supplementary Reading

Questions to Consider