A natural history of time / Pascal Richet ; translated by John Venerella.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Richet, Pascal.

Standardized Title:

Âge du monde. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Geological time.

Earth (Planet)--Age.

Earth (Planet).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (487 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The quest to pinpoint the age of the Earth is nearly as old as humanity itself. For most of history, people trusted mythology or religion to provide the answer, even though nature abounds with clues to the past of the Earth and the stars. In A Natural History of Time, geophysicist Pascal Richet tells the fascinating story of how scientists and philosophers examined those clues and from them built a chronological scale that has made it possible to reconstruct the history of nature itself. Richet begins his story with mythological traditions, which were heavily influence...

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

1. Time without a Beginning?

2. On the Great Book of Moses

3. Genesis as Viewed through the Prism of Natural Philosophy

4. Nature's Admirable Medals

5. The March of the Comets

6. Heroic Age, Relative Time

7. The Long History of Two Barons

8. The Elasticity of Time

9. The Pandora's Box of Physics

10. The Sun, the Earth, Radioactivity-and Kelvin's Death

11. The Long Quest of Arthur Holmes

12. From the Atomic Bomb to the Age of the Earth

Epilogue

Appendix: Mathematical Complements

Source Notes

Suggestions for Further Reading and Reference

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 373-453) and index.

ISBN:

9786613664334

9781280687396

1280687398

9780226712895

0226712893

OCLC:

795120253