His work was generally ignored until the 1920s, though in 1917 Joseph Barrell, a professor of geology at Yale, redrew geological history as it was understood at the time to conform to Holmes's findings in radiometric dating.
Hans arbejde blev i almindelighed overset indtil 1920'erne, omend Joseph Barrell, en geologiprofessor ved Yale, i 1917 reformulerede den geologiske historie, som den blev forstået på denne tid, så den var overensstemmende med Holmes' resultater fra radiometrisk datering.