Gravity Limits on the Scale of Life
| Article | |
|---|---|
| Title | Gravity Limits on the Scale of Life |
| Author(s) | Stephen W Hurrell |
| Published in | Beyond Mainstream |
| Date | 2019-01-30 |
| Subject area | Physics |
| Topics | palaeogravity, gravity, biology |
Read online | Read the full article |
Archived copy | Archived version |
| Retrieved | 2026-07-23 |
"Gravity Limits on the Scale of Life" is an article by Stephen W Hurrell published on 30 January 2019 on Beyond Mainstream.
Hurrell assembles the long-established case that gravity constrains the form and size of living things: Galileo's demonstration in the Two New Sciences of 1638 that larger animals require proportionally thicker bones, J. B. S. Haldane's 1926 essay On Being the Right Size, D'Arcy Thompson's conclusion in Growth and Form that bodily form is conditioned entirely by the strength of gravity, and Stephen Jay Gould's later treatment. The accepted principle is the foundation of his own argument that the largest extinct animals imply a weaker gravity.