John Baumgardner

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John R. Baumgardner is an American young earth creationist and geophysicist. [1] [2]

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Biography

Baumgardner earned a B.S. from Texas Tech University in 1968, a M.S. from Princeton University in 1970, and a Ph.D. in geophysics and space physics from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1983. [3] [4] He worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and in 2002 joined the staff of the Institute for Creation Research. [1] [5] As a professional scientist, Baumgardner is known for developing TERRA, a finite element code designed to solve problems in mantle convection. [6] In 1994 he presented research at a geophysics conference stating that the slip-sliding geologic plates that cover the Earth might once have moved thousands of times faster than they do today. [2] In 1997, U.S. News & World Report described him as "the world's pre-eminent expert in the design of computer models for geophysical convection". [3]

Baumgardner is a Christian who sometimes pursues creationist research. He has, for example, created a computer simulation called Terra to model the Noachian flood. [1] [3]

In 1985, Baumgardner joined the amateur adventurer Ron Wyatt and salvage expert David Fasold to Durupınar, Turkey, for an expedition recounted in Fasold's The Ark of Noah to locate the biblical ship's remains. [7] Baumgardner did not support Wyatt's and Fasold's claims to have found a boat-shaped 'object' which was the Ark. He argued that the object was a natural formation. [8] [9]

Select publications

According to Web of Science, he has published 20 peer-reviewed papers, including:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geophysics</span> Physics of the Earth and its vicinity

Geophysics is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists, who usually study geophysics, physics, or one of the earth sciences at the graduate level, complete investigations across a wide range of scientific disciplines. The term geophysics classically refers to solid earth applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic fields ; its internal structure and composition; its dynamics and their surface expression in plate tectonics, the generation of magmas, volcanism and rock formation. However, modern geophysics organizations and pure scientists use a broader definition that includes the water cycle including snow and ice; fluid dynamics of the oceans and the atmosphere; electricity and magnetism in the ionosphere and magnetosphere and solar-terrestrial physics; and analogous problems associated with the Moon and other planets.

In fluid mechanics, the Rayleigh number (Ra, after Lord Rayleigh) for a fluid is a dimensionless number associated with buoyancy-driven flow, also known as free (or natural) convection. It characterises the fluid's flow regime: a value in a certain lower range denotes laminar flow; a value in a higher range, turbulent flow. Below a certain critical value, there is no fluid motion and heat transfer is by conduction rather than convection. For most engineering purposes, the Rayleigh number is large, somewhere around 106 to 108.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asthenosphere</span> Highly viscous, mechanically weak, and ductile region of Earths mantle

The asthenosphere is the mechanically weak and ductile region of the upper mantle of Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at a depth between ~80 and 200 km below the surface, and extends as deep as 700 km (430 mi). However, the lower boundary of the asthenosphere is not well defined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flood geology</span> Pseudoscientific attempt to reconcile geology with the Genesis flood narrative

Flood geology is a pseudoscientific attempt to interpret and reconcile geological features of the Earth in accordance with a literal belief in the Genesis flood narrative, the flood myth in the Hebrew Bible. In the early 19th century, diluvial geologists hypothesized that specific surface features provided evidence of a worldwide flood which had followed earlier geological eras; after further investigation they agreed that these features resulted from local floods or from glaciers. In the 20th century, young-Earth creationists revived flood geology as an overarching concept in their opposition to evolution, assuming a recent six-day Creation and cataclysmic geological changes during the biblical flood, and incorporating creationist explanations of the sequences of rock strata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth's mantle</span> A layer of silicate rock between Earths crust and its outer core

Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. It has a mass of 4.01 × 1024 kg and thus makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) making up about 84% of Earth's volume. It is predominantly solid but, on geologic time scales, it behaves as a viscous fluid, sometimes described as having the consistency of caramel. Partial melting of the mantle at mid-ocean ridges produces oceanic crust, and partial melting of the mantle at subduction zones produces continental crust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internal structure of Earth</span> Inner structure of planet Earth, consisting of several concentric spherical layers

The internal structure of Earth is the solid portion of the Earth, excluding its atmosphere and hydrosphere. The structure consists of an outer silicate solid crust, a highly viscous asthenosphere and solid mantle, a liquid outer core whose flow generates the Earth's magnetic field, and a solid inner core.

Dan Peter McKenzie is a Professor of Geophysics at the University of Cambridge, and one-time head of the Bullard Laboratories of the Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences. He wrote the first paper defining the mathematical principles of plate tectonics on a sphere, and his early work on mantle convection created the modern discussion of planetary interiors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durupınar site</span> Large aggregate structure in Doğubayazıt, Ağrı, Turkey

The Durupınar site is geological formation of 164 metres made of limonite on Mount Tendürek, adjacent to the village of Üzengili in eastern Anatolia or Turkey. The site is 3 km (1.9 mi) north of the Iranian border, 16 km (9.9 mi) southeast of Doğubayazıt in the Ağrı Province, and 29 kilometres south of the Greater Mount Ararat summit, at an elevation of 1,966 to 2,004 m above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don L. Anderson</span> American geophysicist

Don Lynn Anderson was an American geophysicist who made significant contributions to the understanding of the origin, evolution, structure, and composition of Earth and other planets. An expert in numerous scientific disciplines, Anderson's work combined seismology, solid state physics, geochemistry and petrology to explain how the Earth works. Anderson was best known for his contributions to the understanding of the Earth's deep interior, and more recently, for the plate theory hypothesis that hotspots are the product of plate tectonics rather than narrow plumes emanating from the deep Earth. Anderson was Professor (Emeritus) of Geophysics in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He received numerous awards from geophysical, geological and astronomical societies. In 1998 he was awarded the Crafoord Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences along with Adam Dziewonski. Later that year, Anderson received the National Medal of Science. He held honorary doctorates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Paris (Sorbonne), and served on numerous university advisory committees, including those at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, Stanford, University of Paris, Purdue University, and Rice University. Anderson's wide-ranging research resulted in hundreds of published papers in the fields of planetary science, seismology, mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, tectonics and the philosophy of science.

Louis-Noël Moresi is a Professor of Computational Mathematics & Geophysics at The Australian National University. He has deeply influenced the understanding of the Geophysics community through his own research as well as providing software for the community to use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Fasold</span> U.S. Merchant Marine officer and author

David Franklin Fasold was a United States Merchant Marine officer and salvage expert who is best known for his 1988 book The Ark of Noah, chronicling his early expeditions to the Durupınar Noah's Ark site in eastern Turkey. Repudiating and then changing his views about the site, Fasold was a participant in a suit with Australian geologist and skeptic Ian Plimer against an Australian creationist group. The suit, dubbed the "Monkey Trial II," was a notable case in the debate between science and religion and its role in society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mantle convection</span> Gradual movement of the planets mantle

Mantle convection is the very slow creeping motion of Earth's solid silicate mantle as convection currents carry heat from the interior to the planet's surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geodynamics</span> Study of dynamics of the Earth

Geodynamics is a subfield of geophysics dealing with dynamics of the Earth. It applies physics, chemistry and mathematics to the understanding of how mantle convection leads to plate tectonics and geologic phenomena such as seafloor spreading, mountain building, volcanoes, earthquakes, faulting. It also attempts to probe the internal activity by measuring magnetic fields, gravity, and seismic waves, as well as the mineralogy of rocks and their isotopic composition. Methods of geodynamics are also applied to exploration of other planets.

(Stanley) Keith Runcorn was a British physicist whose paleomagnetic reconstruction of the relative motions of Europe and America revived the theory of continental drift and was a major contribution to plate tectonics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creationist museum</span> Facility that hosts exhibits to present a young Earth creationist view

A creationist museum is a facility that hosts exhibits which use the established natural history museum format to present a young Earth creationist view that the Earth and life on Earth were created some 6,000 to 10,000 years ago in six days. These facilities generally promote pseudoscientific biblical literalist creationism and contest evolutionary science. Their claims are dismissed by the scientific community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crustal recycling</span> Tectonic recycling process

Crustal recycling is a tectonic process by which surface material from the lithosphere is recycled into the mantle by subduction erosion or delamination. The subducting slabs carry volatile compounds and water into the mantle, as well as crustal material with an isotopic signature different from that of primitive mantle. Identification of this crustal signature in mantle-derived rocks is proof of crustal recycling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth's internal heat budget</span> Accounting of the energy flows at and below the planets crust

Earth's internal heat budget is fundamental to the thermal history of the Earth. The flow of heat from Earth's interior to the surface is estimated at 47±2 terawatts (TW) and comes from two main sources in roughly equal amounts: the radiogenic heat produced by the radioactive decay of isotopes in the mantle and crust, and the primordial heat left over from the formation of Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Numerical modeling (geology)</span> Technique to solve geological problems by computational simulation

In geology, numerical modeling is a widely applied technique to tackle complex geological problems by computational simulation of geological scenarios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inner core super-rotation</span> Concept in geodynamics

Inner core super-rotation is the eastward rotation of the inner core of Earth relative to its mantle, for a net rotation rate that is usually faster than Earth as a whole. A 1995 model of Earth's dynamo predicted super-rotations of up to 3 degrees per year; the following year, this prediction was supported by observed discrepancies in the time that p-waves take to travel through the inner and outer core.

Anne Davaille is a French geophysicist and director of research at the CNRS, France in the field of Earth Sciences. Davaille is known for her innovative experiments using thermochemical convection in fluids to simulate the mantles of planets. She uses these experiments to analyze fluid mechanics that create a new understanding of convective regimes in Earth and other planets.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Moore, Randy; Decker, Mark; Cotner, Sehoya (2010). Chronology of the Evolution-creationism Controversy. ABC-CLIO. p.  321. ISBN   9780313362873.
  2. 1 2 Begley, Sharon (September 15, 1996). "Heretics in the Laboratory". Newsweek . Vol. 128, no. 1–14. p. 82.
  3. 1 2 3 Burr, Chandler (8 June 1997). "The Geophysics of God: A scientist embraces plate tectonics--and Noah's flood". U.S. News & World Report . pp. 55–8. Archived from the original on 10 August 2007.
  4. Baumgardner, John Rudolph (1983). A three-dimensional finite element model for mantle convection (Ph.D. thesis). Los Angeles, Cal.: University of California, Los Angeles. OCLC   753781044.
  5. "The Epiphany Project". icr.org. Institute for Creation Research . Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  6. Baumgardner, John R. (1985). "Three-dimensional treatment of convective flow in the earth's mantle". Journal of Statistical Physics. Vol. 39, no. 5. pp. 501–511. Bibcode:1985JSP....39..501B. doi:10.1007/BF01008348. Cited in 190 references
  7. Fasold, David (1988). The Ark of Noah. New York: Wynwood. p.  7. ISBN   9780922066100.
  8. Baumgardner, John (26 September 1996). "Letter From John Baumgardner: Regarding the claims of Ron Wyatt". tentmaker.org. Hermann, MO: Tentmaker Ministries. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  9. "Amazing ark expose". Creation Magazine. Vol. 14, no. 4. September 1992.