The theory of the age of the Earth was developed by geologists and physicists, with significant contributions from people like:
* James Hutton: Considered the "father of modern geology", his work in the late 1700s laid the foundation for understanding the Earth's long history.
* Charles Lyell: He furthered Hutton's work in the early 1800s with his principle of uniformitarianism, suggesting that geological processes occurring today are the same as those that happened in the past.
* Lord Kelvin: In the late 1800s, he used physics to calculate the age of the Earth based on its cooling rate. His estimate was much younger than the current accepted age.
* Ernest Rutherford and his team: In the early 1900s, they developed radiometric dating, which uses radioactive isotopes to determine the age of rocks and fossils. This method revolutionized our understanding of the Earth's age.
Currently, the accepted age of Earth is 4.54 billion years, based on radiometric dating of meteorites and lunar samples.
