Geologia 1-Fisika 1: duela 65 milioi urte Lurraren aurkako meteorito baten inpaktuaren afera

Abstract

This article is a continuation of the article «Geologia 1-Fisika 0», where I showed that the mastery of physics in the 20th century, and especially in the first half of the century, did not reach all areas, and in the knowledge of the age of the Earth Geology scored a great goal against physics. In this second article I will explain that in the fourth quarter of the 20th century, when the success of physics was not so great, physics tied the game, especially at the hands of. the winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physics, Luis Walter Alvarez. It was largely he who proposed the theory of the impact of a meteorite on Earth about 65 million years ago. The last mass extinction occurred 65 million years ago and is used to establish the boundary between the Cretaceous and the Tertiary. This article deals with the excitement, unrest, and rich interdisciplinary scientific debate that aroused in the scientific community after the publication in 1980 in the journal Science of the aforementioned hypothesis as the cause of the last mass extinction. The article will also allow us to highlight what I call the "migrant effect" that often occurs in the world of scientific research, show the different ways of dealing with problems, the importance of people with wide curiosity, the different jealousies that can occur in different scientific communities, the “subjectivities” that may occur in the peer review process, as well as the uneasiness and reactions of experts in the field of research to a revolutionary hypothesis, if it is made by scientists outside the field.