UnderstandEarth.com

"Science is like a long road paved with observations, ideas, and understandings. From a distance it looks like a smooth strip of ribbon meandering through time. But up close, it can be seen as a rocky road indeed -- a mix of insight and oversight, design and serendipity, precision and error, and implication and revision."    J. Marvin Herndon

Now, as in ancient times, people everywhere want to understand Earth. There is a drive, a passion, an intense desire rooted deep in human nature that causes people everywhere to want to understand Earth, their home planet, sometimes even at great risk of peril posed by those who would seek to purvey their own false view.

In the science of the Earth, ours is a time of extremes, a time of illumination and a time of darkness. On one hand, we have instantaneous global communication and ready access to very large amounts of scientific data from satellites and various Earth monitoring systems. But, on the other hand, those whose jobs are to do Earth science or to teach Earth science frequently work in darkness, sometimes because they know no other way, and sometimes out of fear for loss of their jobs. Consensus conformity has all too often come to replace truth and reason. Young people are being taught "science facts" that may not be facts at all, instead of being taught to find what is wrong with current ideas, and to think about formulating new and better ideas. Questioning and challenging prevailing, popular theories is what science is all about. Remember, popularity only measures popularity, not scientific correctness: Science is a logical process, not a democratic process. If the world really is the way we presently perceive it to be, then there would be no need for science. Science is about new ideas. It is about discovery. Science is about understanding more precisely the nature of the Earth and the Cosmos. Click on the pictures below, follow the links, and begin to experience the richness and excitement of discovery that comes when one questions prevailing, currently popular perceptions of our world.                         Email link: J. Marvin Herndon.

J. Marvin Herndon's view of Earth, its internal composition, energy sources, origin, and behavior, makes sense in a logical and causally related manner. His presentation is unlike the textbook picture that is based upon deep-rooted blunders, uncorrected by consensus-only, reviewed-in-secret, government-funded, establishment scientists.

Maverick's Earth and Universe begins at the foundations of knowledge and progresses step-by-step so that the reader can understand, not simply believe. The author reveals the way science should work, including a methodology more fundamental than the so-called scientific method, and describes techniques to use for making discoveries, which are not found in any textbook.

Maverick's Earth and Universe discloses the decades-old major blunder that underlies astrophysics, and points to a wholly different way to envision the Universe. For soft cover and information (click here). For hardcover, Amazon.com (click here).

What’s wrong with plate tectonics? Try to answer that question, and you begin to get down to the basics of real science. Textbooks often extol the virtues of plate tectonics, especially the apparently obvious agreement between theory and observation, but rarely address the question of what might be wrong with the theory. But finding out what's wrong is the first step toward finding a better theory. Click here or on the diagram at the left to learn more.

What's wrong with Earth expansion? Not only do textbooks almost universally fail to address the question of what might be wrong with plate tectonics theory, they rarely, if ever, mention a competitive theory that actually predates plate tectonics, but that has fewer adherents, called Earth expansion theory. How can students be taught to question prevailing, currently popular theories if they are only presented a one-sided view? In the 1930s, Otto Hilgenberg realized that, without the area taken by the oceans, the continents would more-or less fit like pieces of a puzzle on a smaller globe. Click here or on Hilgenberg's self-portrait at the left to learn more.

Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics is a new and different way to consider Earth dynamics. Just as in plate tectonics theory, there are appealing aspects to Earth expansion theory, like the origin of continents from a uniform continental shell, but there are also profound difficulties. The fact that decades have passed without reconciliation of these two seemingly disparate scientific theories might suggest that neither is wholly correct. Perhaps ultimately the correct theory lies somewhere between the two. Perhaps it is the new theory that J. Marvin Herndon published in Current Science, called Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics, which unifies certain elements of plate tectonics and Earth expansion. Click here or on Herndon's photo at the left to learn more about Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics.

Mantle Decompression Thermal-Tsunami is J. Marvin Herndon's new idea about heat generation and its emplacement at the base of the crust by a mechanism that is different from conduction, radiation, and convection. The new process, which follows logically from Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics, poses a potential solution to the problem of the origin of the heat observed leaving the crust, the geothermal gradient, the heat source for volcanism, and the energy source driving earthquakes. The scientific communication has been published in Current Science. Click the photo of Mount Etna at left to learn more about Mantle Decompression Thermal-Tsunami. 

Solar System Processes Underlying Planetary Formation, Geodynamics, and the Georeactor is the title of a new paper written by invitation and accepted for publication in "Neutrino Geophysics", a Special Issue of Earth, Moon and Planets. This is where J. Marvin Herndon puts it all together. Only three processes during formation are responsible for virtually every aspect of the Solar System. Click here or on the drawing of the Solar System at left to learn more about this subject.

Miscellaneous Items of Interest is a portal to see where J. Marvin Herndon is coming from, where he is going, and what is important to him. It is a place for teachers to visit, to learn, and to see that they are appreciated for what they do. It is a place for students and scientists to visit to learn about how to make scientific discoveries. It is a place for government leaders to visit to learn what is wrong with science administration and how to fix it. And, it is a place for all true lovers of science who want to understand Earth. Click here or on the image of Galileo at left to enter this portal.

Enhanced Prognosis for Abiotic Natural Gas and Petroleum is the title of a new scientific paper, published in Current Science, in which J. Marvin Herndon points out the importance of re-examining old ideas in light of new advances. This is especially true for the idea of an abiotic origin of natural gas and petroleum in light of the advances Herndon has made relating to Earth formation as a giant gaseous Jupiter-like planet. Click here or the image of the pump at left to learn more.

Scientific Basis of Knowledge on Earth's Composition is the title of a scientific paper, published in Current Science, which gives a historical perspective of J. Marvin Herndon's logical progression of understanding about the deep interior of our planet. To learn more about this subject or to obtain access to that paper, click here or on the image at left.

Feasibility of a Nuclear Fission Reactor at the Center of the Earth as the Energy Source for the Geomagnetic Field is the title of J. Marvin Herndon's seminal paper on the georeactor, the calculations of which have been independently confirmed and extended with state-of-the-art numerical simulations that yielded an explanation for the helium that is found in oceanic basalts. To learn more about the georeactor and its implications, click here or on the image at left.

Nuclear Georeactor Generation of Earth's Geomagnetic Field is the title of J. Marvin Herndon's paper, published in Current Science, which presents evidence that the georeactor fission product sub-shell is fluid, suggests that the geomagnetic field is generated within the georeactor sub-shell rather than within Earth's iron-alloy fluid core, and describes in detail the advantages of that idea and short comings of the previous concept. To learn more, click here or on the image at left.