From Today in Science History:
Oakley was an English physical anthropologist, geologist, and paleontologist best known for his work in the relative dating of fossils by fluorine content. While working for
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRepj6Wos-AVUulIU-U1DBKhn5Gl6OZNDARd2E5Kc9c5gYDd_5ib7P7h3ODLb45Q1hN7ZMafx3obTeSbQ0owE-fB1Tf10dSHC9JMNNrOiwRAiuJIglhNIP3RFHBz1k3LqIqL8/s320/1.jpg)
"A skull had been "unearthed" in 1912, in Piltdown, England, and had for decades been said to represent the "missing link" in human evolution. Oakley developed a method, based on a French minerologist's theory that bones would gradually absorb fluorine from surrounding soil, to measure the fluorine levels in bones. With this and other tests he proved the bones to be a modern human braincase and an orangutan jawbone chemically stained to appear ancient. image