OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

April 6, 1987

Mr. Robert V. Gentry
P.O. Box 12067
Knoxville, Tennessee  37912

Dear Mr. Gentry:

I am responding to your letter of March 24, 1987.

The booklet SCIENCE AND CREATIONISM:  A VIEW FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES provides in detail an answer to the main point of your letter--the reasons why this institution maintains that creationism should not be taught in the schools.

Your work on radiohalos is a matter of record in journals and can be debated by scientists. That is the way science works. I cannot agree with your contention that one small piece of data invalidates the vast body of evidence from geology, astronomy, biology, radiodating, the fossil record, genetics and other fields that taken together irrefutably show that the age of the earth is about 4.5 billion years and that life on earth had its beginnings billions of years ago.

There is a quote from Albert Einstein inscribed on his statue on the grounds of the Academy building as follows: "The right to search for truth implies also a duty; one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true." I would urge you to consider all the evidence. That too is the way science works.

Yours sincerely, Frank Press President