Four revolutions in the earth sciences : from heresy to truth / James Lawrence Powell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Powell, James Lawrence, 1936- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Geology--History.

Geology.

Geological time.

Continental drift.

Meteoritic hypothesis.

Global warming.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (385 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

PART I. DEEP TIME

The Abyss of Time

A Great Mistake Has Been Made

The Bank of Time

Account Overdrawn

Strange Rays

An Hourglass of Great Precision

Geochronology

Duck Soup

PART II. CONTINENTAL DRIFT AND PLATE TECTONICS

An Idea to Pursue

A Very Trusting Man

Dead on Arrival

Geologists Unite Against Heresy

Continental Drift: Not Even Wrong

Postwar Surprises

Wandering Poles or Drifting Continents?

The Final Confrontation

Spreading Seafloors

HypotHESSes

The Discovery of the Century

All This Rubbish

PART III. METEORITE IMPACT

A Trivial Process

To Hunt a Star

The Moon's Face

Rosetta Stone

To a Rocky Moon

Worlds in Collision

Dinosaur Killer

Out with a Bang

Cosmic Pinball

PART IV. GLOBAL WARMING

Origins of the CO2 Theory

Tedious Calculations of Extraordinary Interest

Destructive Criticism

A Unique Experiment of Planetary Dimensions

Giant Brains

Warming Is Unequivocal

From Heresy to Truth

Acknowledgments

Notes

Recommended Reading

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231538459

0231538456

OCLC:

979953875