 ROCKHAMPTON, AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Eminent 20th Century Scientist, Astronomer, Englishman Fred Hoyle, (1915 - 2001), calculated that the abundance of carbon in today's universe was produced in the interiors of red giant stars.
Moreover, Hoyle calculated that without just the right amount of carbon, carbon-based life, (that's all living creatures, including human beings), would be impossible.
Hoyle said the process that creates carbon is called the "triple-alpha process."
This is a nuclear reaction in which three helium atoms fuse to form carbon, (helium nuclei are known as alpha particles). The force that acts to fuse the constituents of these atoms protons and neutrons is the strong nuclear force, which is one of the four fundamental forces of nature.
Australian conservative activist and mining entrepreneur, Ron Kitching reminds us in his latest Newsletter about Hoyle's work.
He writes: "It is an interesting and timely message for Christians concerned with all the problems in the world today; it reminds us of the amazing creative genius of our Creator."
The Miracle of Life
Kitching said: "Hoyle found that a change of only 0.4 percent in the strong nuclear force would have made it impossible for carbon-based life to evolve. Given even this slight variation, all stars would have produced either carbon or oxygen, but not the necessary abundance of both elements so critical to organic life, including human life."
Kitching writes that, commenting on the dark green pursuit of the dangers of carbon dioxide, Fred Hoyle said: "The efficiency of the carbon trap is insensitive to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: increasing the amount five-fold, [that is from 380 ppm to 1,900 ppm], would scarcely change the trap; in spite of the stories that are currently being circulated by environmentalists."
Kitching says that Hoyle said: "Some super-calculating intellect must have designed the properties of the carbon atom; otherwise the chance of my finding such an atom through the blind forces of nature would be utterly minuscule.
"A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question."
Hoyle's Conversion to Christianity
Kitching goe son to say that Hoyle, an atheist until that time, said that his discovery left him "greatly shaken." He subsequently became a Christian.
"Today, many who advocate intelligent design cite Hoyle's work to support the claim that the universe is fine tuned to allow intelligent life to exist," Kiching says.
"Interestingly, Hoyle was not awarded a Nobel Prize for his work. Instead, his co-worker William Alfred Fowler eventually won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1983 (with Subramanyan Chandrasekhar).
"For some reason Hoyle's original contribution was overlooked. Many were surprised that such a notable astronomer missed out. Some say it was because he turned to Christianity," said Kitching.
Kitching says that Hoyle's work reminds us that it is time that sensible people everywhere rejected scare tactics and realized the incredible, intrinsic design of the universe.
"Yes, there are challenges," Kitching writes. "Eminent scientists like Hoyle remind us however of the amazing design of the universe; which, if we believe involves an intelligent, all-seeing, all-knowing God, then He surely must have considered these challenges in His design."
For more information about the work of Fred Hoyle, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hoyle
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To contact Ron Kitching, write:
P.O. Box 9809
Frenchville, QLD 4701.
Australia.
E-mail:
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RAHCO Web Site: www.rahco.com
** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel,and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
Used by permission www.assistnews.net
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