Thomas G. Barnes (August 14, 1911 – October 23, 2001) was an American

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...

, who argued in support of his religious belief in a

young earth Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between approximately 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. In its most widespr ...

by making the faulty scientific claims that the Earth's

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

was consistently decaying.

Biography

Barnes obtained three degrees in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

: an AB from Hardin-Simmons University in 1933, an MS from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

under

Robert Bruce Lindsay Robert Bruce Lindsay (1 January 1900 – 2 March 1985) was an American physicist and physics professor, known for his prolific authorship of physics books in acoustics, and historical and philosophical analyses of physics. Biography R(obert) ...

in 1936, and an honorary Sc.D. again from Hardin-Simmons University in 1950. His detractors have questioned his credentials based on the fact that his doctorate was honorary. At the time that Barnes joined the

Creation Research Society The Creation Research Society (CRS) is a Christian fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalist group that requires of its members belief that the Bible is historically and scientifically true in the original autographs, belief that "original created ...

(CRS) in the early 1960s, he was the head of the Schellenger Research Laboratories at Texas Western College (now

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

), where he was completing a textbook on electricity and magnetism, and on whose faculty he served from 1938 until he retired in 1981. Barnes headed one of the first projects of the CRS, to create a creationist high school biology text. Barnes served as the president of the CRS in the mid-1970s.

Earth's magnetic field decay

Barnes claimed to calculate the

half-life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...

of the earth's

as approximately 1,400 years based on 130 years of empirical data.Thomas G. Barnes, ''Origin and Destiny of the Earth's Magnetic Field'',

Institute for Creation Research The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) is a Creationist apologetics institute in Dallas, Texas, that specializes in media promotion of pseudoscientific creation science and interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative as a historical ...

, (1973) (). Some

creationists Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...

have used Barnes' argument as evidence for a

, less than 10,000 years as suggested by the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. His critics have challenged this concept, claiming that Barnes failed to take experimental uncertainties into account and used an obsolete model of the interior of the earth.Epic Idiot - Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design
Rebuttal of Barnes' magnetic field claim.

Works

Books

* Thomas G. Barnes, ''Science and Biblical Faith: A Science Documentary'', Creation Research Society Books, 191pp. (1993) (). * Thomas G. Barnes, ''Space Medium: The Key to Unified Physics'', Geo/Space Research Foundation, 170pp. (1986) (). * Thomas G. Barnes, ''Physics of the Future: A Classical Unification of Physics'', Master Books, 208pp., (1983) (). * Thomas G. Barnes, ''Origin and Destiny of the Earth's Magnetic Field'',

, (1973) (). * Thomas G. Barnes, ''Foundations of Electricity and Magnetism'', Heath, 331pp., (1965) (ASIN B0006BMTRU).

Articles

* Thomas G. Barnes, "Resonant Optics for Detection of Rotation and Translation",
Galilean Electrodynamics
', V2, N3, p. 55 orrespondence V2, N4, p. 77(1991). * Thomas G. Barnes & Harold S. Slusher, "Space Medium Theory Applied to Lunar and Stellar Aberration",
Galilean Electrodynamics
', V1, N4, p. 43 orrespondence V1, N5, p. 68(1990).

Notes

References

External links

Common Sense Science

* Harold S. Slusher,
So Long Dr. Barnes
, ''Physica, Newsletter of UTEP Department of Physics'', V2, p. 1 (Feb 2003). *

Henry M. Morris Henry Madison Morris (October 6, 1918 – February 25, 2006) was an American young Earth creationist, Christian apologist and engineer. He was one of the founders of the Creation Research Society and the Institute for Creation Research. He is con ...

,
Memories Of ICR Colleagues Now In Heaven
(May 2003). *

,
The ICR Scientists
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Thomas G. 1911 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American physicists Brown University alumni Christian writers American Christian Young Earth creationists Hardin–Simmons University alumni People from El Paso, Texas Relativity critics Theoretical physicists University of Texas at El Paso faculty