There are eight columns in the Periodic Table. The eighth column is comprised of the rare gases, so-called because they are the rarest elements on earth. They are also called the inert or noble gases because, like nobility, they do no work. They are colorless, odorless, invisible gases which do not react with anything, and were thought to be unimportant until the early 1960s. Starting in that era, David Fisher has spent roughly fifty years doing research on these gases, publishing nearly a hundred papers in the scientific journals, applying them to problems in geophysics and cosmochemistry, and learning how other scientists have utilized them to change our ideas about the universe, the sun, and our own planet.

Philosophy and apology -- In the beginning -- Helium -- Argon and the rest -- Helium and the age of the Earth -- The strange case of helium and the nuclear atom -- Interlude : helium, argon, and creationism -- Meanwhile, back at brookhaven -- Cornell, the ten minute experiment, and back to argon -- K/AR and the irons -- Interlude : the spreading oceans -- Dating the spreading sea floor -- The argon surprise -- Primordial helium and argon and the evolution of the Earth -- Xenology -- The coldest place on Earth -- Back to the stars -- The neutrino revolution -- Life and death on Mars and Earth -- Radon and you -- L'envoi.