The Alvarez Hypothesis
‘Who can tell me what dinosaurs and asteroids have in common?’ Mr Priymak asked the class? Lucy put up her hand.
‘Yes Miss Lombards.’
‘Tom can,’ Lucy answered.
‘Thank you Lucy,’ said Mr Priymak once the class had settled back down. ‘Well Tom, can you?’
‘I guess that you’re referring to the Alvarez hypothesis that links the extinction of the dinosaurs with the collision of a very large asteroid with the earth.’
‘Correct Tom, and who can tell me what evidence there is to link these two events?’ Tom put up his hand.
‘Yes Tom.’
‘Lucy can,’ Tom answered. Mr Priymak waited again for the class to calm down.
‘Well Lucy?’
‘There are strong concentrations of iridium, at the Cretaceous–Tertiary or K–T boundary, the layer of the earth’s crust that corresponds with the time when dinosaurs became extinct. Iridium is an element that often has high concentrations in asteroids’ Lucy stated this factually, accurately mimicking Tom’s voice.
Tom laughed with the rest of the class, he should know better by now, never take on a Lombards girl in a contest of wit.
Approximately 3.8 billion years earlier a large meteorite hurtled towards the earth. The impact of this meteorite would not wipeout a species, indeed, quite the opposite, it would create a species and this species was the dragon. As you will discover if this event had ever been published in academic texts it would have become known as the Bean-Lombards hypothesis. But it didn’t. This is the story of the remarkable kids who didn’t become famous, and why.
‘Yes Miss Lombards.’
‘Tom can,’ Lucy answered.
‘Thank you Lucy,’ said Mr Priymak once the class had settled back down. ‘Well Tom, can you?’
‘I guess that you’re referring to the Alvarez hypothesis that links the extinction of the dinosaurs with the collision of a very large asteroid with the earth.’
‘Correct Tom, and who can tell me what evidence there is to link these two events?’ Tom put up his hand.
‘Yes Tom.’
‘Lucy can,’ Tom answered. Mr Priymak waited again for the class to calm down.
‘Well Lucy?’
‘There are strong concentrations of iridium, at the Cretaceous–Tertiary or K–T boundary, the layer of the earth’s crust that corresponds with the time when dinosaurs became extinct. Iridium is an element that often has high concentrations in asteroids’ Lucy stated this factually, accurately mimicking Tom’s voice.
Tom laughed with the rest of the class, he should know better by now, never take on a Lombards girl in a contest of wit.
Approximately 3.8 billion years earlier a large meteorite hurtled towards the earth. The impact of this meteorite would not wipeout a species, indeed, quite the opposite, it would create a species and this species was the dragon. As you will discover if this event had ever been published in academic texts it would have become known as the Bean-Lombards hypothesis. But it didn’t. This is the story of the remarkable kids who didn’t become famous, and why.