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Author: James Lawrence Powell
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231538456
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385
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Book Description
Over the course of the twentieth century, scientists came to accept four counterintuitive yet fundamental facts about the Earth: deep time, continental drift, meteorite impact, and global warming. When first suggested, each proposition violated scientific orthodoxy and was quickly denounced as scientific—and sometimes religious—heresy. Nevertheless, after decades of rejection, scientists came to accept each theory. The stories behind these four discoveries reflect more than the fascinating push and pull of scientific work. They reveal the provocative nature of science and how it raises profound and sometimes uncomfortable truths as it advances. For example, counter to common sense, the Earth and the solar system are older than all of human existence; the interactions among the moving plates and the continents they carry account for nearly all of the Earth's surface features; and nearly every important feature of our solar system results from the chance collision of objects in space. Most surprising of all, we humans have altered the climate of an entire planet and now threaten the future of civilization. This absorbing scientific history is the only book to describe the evolution of these four ideas from heresy to truth, showing how science works in practice and how it inevitably corrects the mistakes of its practitioners. Scientists can be wrong, but they do not stay wrong. In the process, astonishing ideas are born, tested, and over time take root.
Author: Tim Lenton
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191501778
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 440
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Book Description
The Earth that sustains us today was born out of a few remarkable, near-catastrophic revolutions, started by biological innovations and marked by global environmental consequences. The revolutions have certain features in common, such as an increase in complexity, energy utilization, and information processing by life. This book describes these revolutions, showing the fundamental interdependence of the evolution of life and its non-living environment. We would not exist unless these upheavals had led eventually to 'successful' outcomes - meaning that after each one, at length, a new stable world emerged. The current planet-reshaping activities of our species may be the start of another great Earth system revolution, but there is no guarantee that this one will be successful. The book explains what a successful transition through it might look like, if we are wise enough to steer such a course. This book places humanity in context as part of the Earth system, using a new scientific synthesis to illustrate our debt to the deep past and our potential for the future.
Author: James Lawrence Powell
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231538456
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Get Book Here
Book Description
Over the course of the twentieth century, scientists came to accept four counterintuitive yet fundamental facts about the Earth: deep time, continental drift, meteorite impact, and global warming. When first suggested, each proposition violated scientific orthodoxy and was quickly denounced as scientific—and sometimes religious—heresy. Nevertheless, after decades of rejection, scientists came to accept each theory. The stories behind these four discoveries reflect more than the fascinating push and pull of scientific work. They reveal the provocative nature of science and how it raises profound and sometimes uncomfortable truths as it advances. For example, counter to common sense, the Earth and the solar system are older than all of human existence; the interactions among the moving plates and the continents they carry account for nearly all of the Earth's surface features; and nearly every important feature of our solar system results from the chance collision of objects in space. Most surprising of all, we humans have altered the climate of an entire planet and now threaten the future of civilization. This absorbing scientific history is the only book to describe the evolution of these four ideas from heresy to truth, showing how science works in practice and how it inevitably corrects the mistakes of its practitioners. Scientists can be wrong, but they do not stay wrong. In the process, astonishing ideas are born, tested, and over time take root.
Author: Martin J. S. Rudwick
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226731146
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 733
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Book Description
In 1650, Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh joined the long-running theological debate on the age of the earth by famously announcing that creation had occurred on October 23, 4004 B.C. Although widely challenged during the Enlightenment, this belief in a six-thousand-year-old planet was only laid to rest during a revolution of discovery in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In this relatively brief period, geologists reconstructed the immensely long history of the earth-and the relatively recent arrival of human life. Highlighting a discovery that radically altered existing perceptions of a human's place in the universe as much as the theories of Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud did, Bursting the Limits of Time is a herculean effort by one of the world's foremost experts on the history of geology and paleontology to sketch this historicization of the natural world in the age of revolution. Addressing this intellectual revolution for the first time, Rudwick examines the ideas and practices of earth scientists throughout the Western world to show how the story of what we now call "deep time" was pieced together. He explores who was responsible for the discovery of the earth's history, refutes the concept of a rift between science and religion in dating the earth, and details how the study of the history of the earth helped define a new branch of science called geology. Rooting his analysis in a detailed study of primary sources, Rudwick emphasizes the lasting importance of field- and museum-based research of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Bursting the Limits of Time, the culmination of more than three decades of research, is the first detailed account of this monumental phase in the history of science.
Author: Robert Frodeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234
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Book Description
For courses in Earth Science, Physical Geology, Physical Geography, Earth System Science and Environmental Philosophy. This collection of essays by scholars in both the earth sciences and philosophy discusses the connections between the earth sciences and contemporary culture, and the changing role of the earth sciences in society.
Author: Roy Porter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100068248X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 237
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Book Description
Originally published in 1983, The Earth Sciences: An Annotated Bibliography is a compact and thematically organized guide that provides comprehensive access to themes and areas of study in the earth sciences. The bibliography is not exhaustive but provides a detailed and critical index to the most important literature in the field. The book’s core focus is geology and examines the subject broadly, covering everything from glaciology, geomorphology, natural history and palaeontology, to oceanography, mapping, stratigraphy and evolution. The book provides detailed essays for each bibliographical chapter on the state of each field of research and the literature compiled for each bibliography will go as far back as around 1700 and contains a wide range of sources from across the world. This book will be of interest to academics and students of natural history, geology, and environmental sciences alike.
Author: Anthony Hallam
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 148
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Book Description
Author: Christina Reed
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438109792
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385
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Book Description
Contains a history of earth sciences, providing definitions and explanations of related topics, plus brief biographies of scientists of the twentieth century.
Author: Gregory A. Good
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136760970
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 460
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Book Description
The planet as seen by its inhabitants In two millenia, our knowledge of the planet and its natural laws and forces has undergone remarkable changes--from the religious belief of earth as the center of the universe to the modern astronomers' view that it is a mere speck in the cosmos. Now a first-of-its-kind reference work charts this remarkable intellectual progression in our evolving perception of the earth by surveying the history of geology, geography, geophysics, oceanography, meteorology, space science, and many other fields. Covers human understanding of the Earth in various times and cultures The Encyclopedia traces our understanding of the earth and its functioning throughout history, summarizing historical explanations of earthly occurrences, including explanations with no scientific basis. It presents the latest facts and theories, explains how our understanding of the earth has evolved, and shows why many outrageous and fanciful earlier ideas were accepted in their time. The coverage explores the physical phenomena that inform our knowledge, starting at the earth's core and extending outward through the mantle, crust, oceans, and atmosphere to the magnetosphere and beyond. Charts the evolution of our perceptions The primary focus of the Encyclopedia is the history of the study of the earth. It also discusses the institutions that advanced and shaped science and probes the interplay between science, practical applications, and social and political forces. The result is a unified historical overview of the earth across a wide canvas of time and place, from antiquity to the space age. Its wide-ranging articles summarize subjects as diverse as geography and imperialism, environmentalism, computers and meteorology, ozone formation theories since 1800, scientific rocketry, the Scopes trial, and much more. Special Features Shows how diverse disciplines, from geology to space science, fit together in a coherent view of the earth * Explains earlier ideas and theories in the context of the beliefs and scientific knowledge of their time * Spotlights important institutions that have shaped the history of science * Explores relationships between science, practical applications, and sociopolitical concerns * Provides a subject index and an index of scientists with birth/death dates
Author: William Glen
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804711197
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 484
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Book Description
This is the story, told here for the first time, of how an international cast of scientists produced the discoveries that brought about the plate-tectonics revolution. In preparing this book the author interviewed virtually all of the important contributors to that critical decade of research, 1957-66. Working in the tradition of history of science, he explores personal relationships, institutional support, and the rivalries and frictions between and within research groups.
Author: Alexander Gates
Publisher: Infobase Holdings, Inc
ISBN: 1438183283
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
A to Z of Earth Scientists, Updated Edition is a comprehensive A to Z reference of Earth scientists in areas including plate tectonics, climate change, and planetary science. Designed for high school through early college students, this is an ideal reference of notable Earth scientists from the 19th century to the present. Featuring nearly 200 entries and 100 black-and-white photographs, this title uses the device of biography in order to put a human face on science—a method that adds immediacy to the prose for the high school student who may have an interest in pursuing a career in the earth sciences. People covered include: James Hutton (1726–1797) William Smith (1769–1839) Charles Lyell (1797–1875) Mary Anning (1799–1847) Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) Walter Alvarez (1911–1988) Doris Malkin Curtis (1914–1991) Marie Tharp (1920–2006) David Keeling (1928–2005) Dawn Wright (1961–present)
