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Science 3 September 1982:
Vol. 217. no. 4563, pp. 891 - 898
DOI: 10.1126/science.217.4563.891
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Articles

Nickel for Your Thoughts: Urey and the Origin of the Moon

Stephen G. Brush 1

1 Professor in the Department of History and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park 20742

The theories of Harold C. Urey (1893-1981) on the origin of the moon are discussed in relation to earlier ideas, especially George Howard Darwin's fission hypothesis. Urey's espousal of the idea that the moon had been captured by the earth and has preserved information about the earliest history of the solar system led him to advocate a manned lunar landing. Results from the Apollo missions, in particular the deficiency of siderophile elements in the lunar crust, led him to abandon the capture selenogony and tentatively adopt the fission hypothesis.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Meteorites and the origin of the solar system.
S. G. Brush (2006)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 256, 417-441
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