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The greywacke : how a priest, a soldier and a schoolteacher uncovered 300 million years of history / Nick Davidson.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Davidson, Nick, 1971?-, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Geologists--Great Britain--History--19th century.
- Geologists.
- Geology--Great Britain--History--19th century.
- Geology.
- Geology--Great Britain.
- History.
- Great Britain.
- Sedgwick, Adam, 1785-1873.
- Sedgwick, Adam.
- Murchison, Roderick Impey, Sir, 1792-1871.
- Murchison, Roderick Impey.
- Lapworth, Charles.
- Genre:
- History.
- Biographies.
- Physical Description:
- 280 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- London : Profile Books, 2021.
- Summary:
- "Adam Sedgwick was a priest and scholar. Roderick Murchison was a retired soldier. Charles Lapworth was a schoolteacher. It was their personal and intellectual rivalry, pursued on treks through Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Devon and parts of western Russia, that revealed the narrative structure of the Palaeozoic Era, the 300-million-year period during which life on Earth became recognisably itself. Nick Davidson follows in their footsteps and draws on maps, diaries, letters, field notes and contemporary accounts to bring the ideas and characters alive. But this is more than a history of geology. As we travel through some of the most spectacular scenery in Britain, it's a celebration of the sheer visceral pleasure generations of geologists have found, and continue to find, in noticing the earth beneath our feet"--Publisher's description.
- Contents:
- Introduction
- The erratic Professor Sedgwick
- The ambititious Mr Murchison
- Trekking through Wales, 1832-3
- A new history: the Cambrian and Silurian, 1834-5
- The Devonian Controversy, 1835-40
- Stumbling on the Permian in Russia, 1840-42
- Siluria v. Cambria, 1841-52
- From collaboration to rivalry, 1852-5
- The Highland conspiracy: Siluria in Sctoland, 1855-73
- The missing key: discovery of the Ordovician, 1864-84
- The final mystery.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.
- Other Format:
- ebook version :
- ISBN:
- 9781788163774
- 178816377X
- OCLC:
- 1191237784
- Publisher Number:
- 99989028388
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