1650 Archbishop James Usher (Usser or Ussher). Theologian. 1670 copperplate engraved portrait printed in London for Nathan Ranew and Jonathon Robinson at the Kings Arms in St. Paul's Church Yard. Usher was born 4 January 1581 died 21st March 1656. He famously placed the time and date of creation to the night preceding 26th October 4004 B.C. according to the proleptic Julian Calendar. It was a work of complex scholarship rather than a guess from naive faith, and came in his 1650 book \Annals of the Old Testament deduced from the first origins of the World\". Buffon revised that estimate in the 18th century to 75, 000 years, breaking with tradition of Biblical authority. The age of life on earth continued to be debated throughout the 19th century, with Lord Kelvin's pre-atomic physics indicating the earth was too young (on the basis of cooling) for complex life to have had time to evolve."