John Laurence Kulp (February 11, 1921 – September 25, 2006) was a 20th-century geochemist. He led major studies on the effects of nuclear fallout and acid rain. He was a prominent advocate in American Scientific Affiliation circles in favor of an Old Earth and against the pseudoscience of flood geology. Kulp died on September 25, 2006, at the age of 85.
Early life and education Kulp was raised in Trenton, New Jersey and was brought up as a practically atheistic Episcopalian. As a young man he left the Episcopal Church and entered into fellowship with the Plymouth Brethren. He attended Drew University, then entered Wheaton College as a junior transfer student. He spent a year in graduate school at Ohio State University before moving to Princeton University, where he obtained a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1945.
Scientific career Kulp was professor of geochemistry at Columbia University between 1947 and 1965. He was also at various times vice president for research and development at Weyerhaeuser Company, director of research of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, affiliate professor at the University of Washington, a consultant in environmental and energy affairs, and owner of Teledyne Isotopes. His primary field was radiometric dating, which was transforming the field of geology in the 1950s. He was a pioneer in the field of Carbon 14 dating and in 1950, established the Carbon 14 research centre at Columbia University, the second in the United States. During the 1950s he helped convince politicians that atomic bomb testing was a danger to health in regard to strontium-90 finding its way into the human food chain. Kulp's research in radiometric dating included:
Potassium-argon dating Rubidium-strontium dating Uranium-lead dating Carbon-14 In 1960, using the findings of radiometric dating, he published a geological time scale estimating the age of each geological era.
Strontium-90 nuclear fallout research Kulp led a team, financed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, that investigated the levels of strontium-90 finding itself into the human food chain because of nuclear weapons testing. Strontium-90 was chosen as it can easily find its way into the human body, through the food chain, by being first absorbed by vegetation and then directly or perhaps indirectly via, for example, cattle, into the human body. In February 1957, Kulp and his team reported that a human has typically about "0.12 micromicrocuries of strontium-90 for each gram of body calcium". (A micromicrocurie is a millionth of a millionth of a curie, what is now called a picocurie. 0.12 μμCi = 0.12 pCi = 0.44 mBq) The report estimated that by 1970, if no further atomic bomb testing was carried out, the average level would be about 1.3 picocurie (48 mBq) of strontium-90 for each gram of body calcium. The reason for the estimated rise without any further testing was attributed to the large length of time strontium-90, due to its properties, is able to stay in the stratosphere before gradually settling to earth. The report believed that what was considered a permissible level of 1.2 nanocuries (44 Bq) could be reached if nuclear bomb testing continued, especially in calcium deficient soils where vegetation would absorb strontium-90 as a suitable replacement for calcium. The report made the front page of the New York Times on February 8, 1957. In June of the same year the National Academy of Sciences stated that both genetic effects and strontium-90 were potential long term hazards of nuclear weapons testing.
Acid rain study Kulp was the director of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, which was established by the United States Congress in 1980. In 1987 it issued an interim report stating that the effects of acid rain on the ecosphere in the U.S.A. was not particularly great. This finding was controversial and the report was not well received, especially by environmentalists, and was considered by many to be politically incorrect. Most of the United States Congress also gave the report a hostile reception. Kulp resigned as director soon after, for personal reasons. Although the reports conclusions were subsequently endorsed by the scientific community, the final report was prevented from being released by the Environmental Protection Agency until Congress had passed new rules in regards to S02 and N20 emissions in the fall of 1990. This final report, released under James Mahoney as director, differed little to the interim report.
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