Formation of the Earth

Buffon thought that there may have been a natural (not God) cause to Earth's creation, such as the collision of the Sun with a comet. He also estimated Earth's age by calculating how long it would take an Earth-sized object to cool from the temperature of the sun. His estimates of 75,000 years were wrong, but this was much greater than 6000.
 Louis Leclerc de Buffon France 1749 Formation of the Earth

Buffon thought that there may have been a natural (not God) cause to Earth's creation, such as the collision of the Sun with a comet. He also estimated Earth's age by calculating how long it would take an Earth-sized object to cool from the temperature of the sun. His estimates of 75,000 years were wrong, but this was much greater than 6000.