In recent weeks (August 2011), we have received multiple inquiries about the historicity of Adam
and Eve, including e-mail questions coming through creation.com,1 questions after church talks, seminary courses we
have given, call-in questions during radio interviews, and questions after conference
presentations. This has been precipitated by a significant amount of press coverage
of Francis Collins and the other members of his organization, BioLogos.2 Collins was the director of
the Human Genome Project, and is currently serving as the director of the National
Institutes of Health, so he is no lightweight in science. Also, Collins claims to
be an evangelical Christian. When a person of his caliber speaks on the relationship
between science and faith, people sit up and listen.
It cannot be overstated that … the two theistic evolutionists are basing
their conclusions on evolutionary assumptions.
Yet, the things he has been saying are completely opposed to what CMI believes and
what the Bible clearly teaches.3
The rash of questions we have received of late center around his claims that there
is no evidence for Adam and Eve and that there is no physical way we could have
come from two ancestors in the recent past. A high profile article appeared in Christianity Today last June, in which the following quotes appeared:
“Collins’s 2006 bestseller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents
Evidence for Belief[4]
… reported scientific indications that anatomically modern humans emerged
from primate ancestors perhaps 100,000 years ago—long before the Genesis time
frame—and originated with a population that numbered something like 10,000,
not two individuals.”
and
“In a recent pro-evolution book from InterVarsity Press, The Language of Science
and Faith, Collins and co-author Karl W. Giberson escalate matters, announcing
that ‘unfortunately’ the concepts of Adam and Eve as the literal first
couple and the ancestors of all humans simply ‘do not fit the evidence’.”5
Fingerprints of Creation Fingerprints is a 33 minute video based on the book Creation's Tiny Mystery. It details the nature of polonium halos and how they provide evidence that the Earth was rapidly formed and did not cool over millions of years. The video, shot mostly in California takes the viewer to picturesque Yosemite National Park during the winter and the regions surrounding Palm Springs and Bishop where granites are plainly visible. Three-dimensional graphic animations are included to help convey the process of halo formation from nuclear particles. Instrumentation similar to that used to gather the published data on the polonium halos is shown along with simple demonstrations which illustrate the basic concepts of a short-lived nuclear emitter. Dr. Gentry explains the history of the origin of granite and scientists' attempts to arrive at a universally accepted model of its formation.
Dr. Robert V. Gentry is a nuclear physicist who worked 13 years for the Oakridge National Laboratory ('69-'82). He has spent the major part of his scientific career investigating traces of polonium radioactivity inscribed in granite and is arguably the world's leading authority on polonium halos. His research has resulted in authoring or co-authoring over twenty research papers in scientific publications, such as Science, Nature, Geophysical Research Letters, Annual Review of Nuclear Science, and Earth and Planetary Science Letters. When he began his research, he was an evolutionist. Today, Dr. Gentry is a fully convinced young earth creation scientist.
Gentry's work showed that granite was never in a molten condition, because polonium pleochroic halos survive only in solid rock and the half-life of polonium is much too short to survive a multimillion-year cooling time. His results seem to indicate that the Earth was created instantaneously, in a cool condition. If true, it is clear evidence for creation. Gentry documents his evidence in his book, Creation's Tiny Mystery. The book contains copies of Gentry's reports in scientific journals and an intriguing narrative about the scientific community's response to his published findings.
Publication in secular journals
Gentry, Robert V. 1968. Fossil Alpha Recoil Analysis of Variant Radioactive Halos. Science 160, pp. 1228-1230.
Gentry. Robert V. 1971. Radiohalos: Some Unique Pb Isotope Ratios and Unknown Alpha Radio Activity. Science 173, pp. 727-31.
Gentry, Robert V. 1973. Radioactive Halos. Ann. Rev. Nuc. Sci, 23, pp. 347-362.
Gentry, Robert V. 1974. Radiohalos in a Radiochronological and Cosmological Perspective. Science 184, pp. 64-66.
Gentry, Robert V. 1975. Response to J.H. Fremlin’s Comments on "Spectacle Haloes." Nature 258, p. 269.
Gentry, Robert V. 1979. Time: Measured Responses. Eos 60, p. 474.
Gentry, Robert V. 1984. Radiohalos in a Radiochronological and Cosmological Perspective. Proceedings of the Sixty Third Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Volume 1. Part 3. pp. 38-65.
Gentry, Robert V. et al.. 1973. Ion Microprobe Confirmation of Pb Isotope Ratios and Search for Isomer Precursors in Polonium Radiohaloes. Nature 244, pp. 282-283.
Gentry, Robert V. et al.. 1974. "Spectacle" Array of 210Po Halo Radiocentres in Biotite: A Nuclear Geophysical Enigma. Nature 252, p. 564.
Gentry, Robert V. et al.. 1976. Radiohalos in Coalified Wood: New Evidence Relating to the Time of Uranium Introduction and Coalification. Science 194, pp. 315-318.
Gentry, Robert V. et al.., 1982a. Differential Lead Retention in Zircons: Implications for Nuclear Waste Containment. Science 2l6, pp. 296-298.
Gentry, Robert V., Clish, Gary L., and McBay, Eddie H. 1982b. Differential Helium Retention in Zircons: Implications for Nuclear Waste Containment. Geophys. Res. Lett. 9, pp. 1129-1130.