Alastair G. W. Cameron, 80, Theorist on Creation of Moon, Dies - New York Times

Alastair G. W. Cameron, a Harvard astrophysicist who helped develop a revolutionary theory to explain how the Moon was formed, died Oct. 3 at his home in Tucson. He was 80.

Dr. Cameron's famous work, known as the giant impact theory, holds that a planet roughly the size of Mars struck Earth, sending fragments of Earth's mantle spinning into the atmosphere. The ring of space debris that resulted may have ultimately come together to form the Moon.
The theory accounts, in part, for the Moon's lack of water and its few volatile elements, which would have been burned away in the planetary collision.

Michael J. Drake, a planetary scientist who is director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, said Dr. Cameron made "clever calculations using advances in computing power and realized that such debris could possibly coalesce."

Dr. Drake observed, "The giant impact theory, which since the 80's has become largely accepted in the scientific mainstream, became a brilliant synthesis of earlier, flawed hypotheses about the origin of the Moon."

This is what science does, and I remember the howl that at first went up from the naysayers as they tried to digest such a bold hypothesis. When better information or testing methods, or simply smarter folk come along, science corrects science.

RIP Dr. Cameron. Brilliant work.