Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Dirac's Cosmology and the Dating of Meteorites

Abstract

IT was long ago suggested by Dirac1 that, from considerations based upon the sizes of the important physical and astrophysical constants, there were reasons for believing that the gravitational constant, when expressed in atomic units, was not a true constant but that it varied inversely with the age of the universe. It has been pointed out that of the other physical constants, only the weak coupling constant would be expected to vary strongly with time, assuming the correctness of the Dirac hypothesis2.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dirac, P. A. M., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 165, 199 (1938).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Dicke, R. H., Rev. Mod. Phys., 29, 355 (1957).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Sciama, D. W., Mon. Not. Roy. Astro. Soc., 113, 34 (1953).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Dicke, R. H., J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 48, 2131 (1958); Science (in the press).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Sandage, A. R., Mon. Not. Roy. Astro. Soc. (1958).

  6. Aldrich, Wetherill, Tilton and Davis, Phys. Rev., 103, 1045 (1956).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wetherill, Wasserburg, Aldrich Tilton and Hayden, Phys. Rev., 102, 987 (1956).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Patterson, C., Geochem. Cosm. Acta, 10, 230 (1957).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hamaguchi, Reed and Turkevich, Geochem. Cosm. Acta, 12, 337 (1957).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wasserburg, G. J., and Hayden, R. J., Phys. Rev., 97, 86 (1955).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Thomson, S. J., and Mayne, K. J., Geochem. Cosm. Acta, 7, 169 (1955).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Schumacher, V. E., Z. Naturforsch., 11, 206 (1956).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

DICKE, R. Dirac's Cosmology and the Dating of Meteorites. Nature 183, 170–171 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/183170a0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/183170a0

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing