It took the amateur astronomer: Wilson 1903. His letter to the editor was only fifteen lines in length.

did not escape George Darwin: Darwin 1903. He speculated that Kelvin’s estimated age could be increased by a factor of ten or twenty.

The Irish physicist and geologist: Joly 1903.

New Zealand–born physicist Ernest Rutherford: A good biography of Rutherford and a description of his work is Eve 1939.

Kelvin showed great interest: He discussed it in a letter to the English physicist Lord Rayleigh on August 24, 1903, and also with Rutherford himself and with Pierre and Marie Curie on their visit to England.