astronomy

John D. Morris

John D. Morris is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John D. Morris rather than just read about it. In short: John David Morris (7 December 1946 – 29 January 2023) was an American young earth creationist. He was the son of "the father of creation science", Henry M.

Key takeaways

John D. Morris belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John D. Morris to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John D. Morris from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John David Morris (7 December 1946 – 29 January 2023) was an American young earth creationist. He was the son of "the father of creation science", Henry M. Morris, and served as president of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) from the time of his father's retirement in 1996 until 2020. Morris was a creationist author and spoke at a variety of churches. Many of his presentations discussed the fossil record and its relation to evolution.

Biography Morris earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Virginia Tech (1969), a Master of Science from the University of Oklahoma (1977) and a Ph.D. in geological engineering from the University of Oklahoma (1980). In 1984 he joined the Institute for Creation Research and in 1996 he became its president.

Criticism Critics have disputed Morris' claims. For instance, the following statement by Morris:

From the neck down, certain clues suggested to Johanson that Lucy walked a little more erect than today's chimps. This conclusion, based on his interpretation of the partial hip bone and a knee bone, has been hotly contested by many paleoanthropologists! ... elicited the following response from Jim Foley in the TalkOrigins Archive:

Almost everything in this quote is a distortion (Johanson's and Lucy's names are about the only exceptions). "Certain clues suggested" doesn't mention that the whole find screamed "bipedality" to every qualified scientist who looked at it. "A little more erect", when everyone believes that Lucy was fully erect. "The partial hip bone and a knee bone", when Lucy included almost a complete pelvis and leg (taking mirror imaging into account, and excluding the foot). "Has been hotly contested", when no reputable paleoanthropologist denies that Lucy was bipedal. The debates are about whether she was also arboreal, and about how similar the biomechanics of her locomotion was to that of humans. Given that we have most of Lucy's leg and pelvis, one has to wonder what sort of fossil evidence it would take to convince creationists of australopithecine bipedality.

Books Adventure on Ararat. Institute for Creation Research. 1973. Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs ... and the People Who Knew Them. CLP Publishers. 1980. ISBN 0-89051-067-9. Noah's Ark and the Ararat Adventure. Master Books. 1988. ISBN 0-89051-166-7. What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?. Master Books. 1990. ISBN 0-89051-159-4. The Young Earth. Master Books. 1994. ISBN 0-89051-174-8. The Modern Creation Trilogy: Scripture and Creation, Science and Creation, Society and Creation. Master Books. 1996. ISBN 0-89051-216-7. A Trip to the Ocean. Master Books. 2000. ISBN 0-89051-285-X. The Geology Book. Master Books. 2000. ISBN 0-89051-281-7. Signs of Design: Timeless Truths from Nature. Master Books. 2002. ISBN 0-89051-367-8.

See also Creation–evolution controversy Lucy (Australopithecus) Australopithecines

References

External links Critical of Morris

Answers In Creation Archived 29 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine Old earth creationist reviews of the claims of John Morris

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John D. Morris

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John D. Morris claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John D. Morris before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John D. Morris ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John D. Morris

In research: John D. Morris appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John D. Morris in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John D. Morris is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, 2023 deaths, American Christian Young Earth creationists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John D. Morris outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John D. Morris in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John D. Morris means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John D. Morris out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John D. Morris in simple terms?

John David Morris (7 December 1946 – 29 January 2023) was an American young earth creationist. He was the son of "the father of creation science", Henry M.

Why does John D. Morris matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John D. Morris?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John D. Morris.