Prior to about 1955-6, the most popular guess at the age of our Earth was 3 to 3.4 billion years. All was about to change with the advent the use of radioisotopes in dating procedures.

   At the beginning of Paper 57 in which the breakup up of a supercontinent and continental drift is introduced, there is another remarkable snippet of information. In this Paper we are told that the beginning of our solar system occurred 4.5 billion years ago. Until the mid-1950's no firm evidence existed that could confirm or deny such a statement, a range being given from about six thousand years by Creationists to the most favored age of 3 to 3.4 billions and as high as about 6 billion by some cosmologists. The first radiometric dating of meteoric material was performed in 1953 by C. C. Patterson who studied the lead isotopes in chondritic meteorite material. However, this work was published in an obscure journal and in the words, "The minimum age of the Earth is about 4.5 billion years and is probably somewhat older." By 1956 Patterson thought enough data were available to clinch the argument for 4.5 billion years.

   The result indicated an age of about 4.5 billion years as given in the Urantia Paper of 1934/5. This remains as the accepted age at 2003 AD.

Comments

   There is absolutely no way that in 1955, the printing plates of The Urantia Book (published 1955) could have been altered to accommodate Dr Patterson's work. For starters it would have been foolish to do so for there was no certainty that the dating of a chondritic meteorite gave the correct age for the solar system. Secondly, the making of a metal printing plate was a time consuming and expensive business. For The Urantia Book, each circular plate was cast so as to turn out sixteen pages with each turn of the press. Lastly, in the 1950's a considerable group of people was both studying the Papers and checking for possible typographic errors that could be corrected in a later printing. It would have been impossible to accomplish such a change in secrecy. At this stage of proceedings any attempt to make substantial changes to the plates would have resulted in a furor and would have been well known throughout the Urantia movement..

Brown, S.G. (1996) A History of Modern Planetary Physics; Transmuted Past. Vol.2. Cambridge University Press.
L..J Mullins and M.J. Sprunger. (2000) A History of the Urantia Papers. (Penumbra Press, Boulder.)