Geology in the Nineteenth Century : Changing Views of a Changing World / Mott T. Greene.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greene, Mott T., author.

Series:

Cornell history of science series.

Cornell History of Science

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Geology--History.

Geology.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (325 pages) : illustrations, maps.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

In this clear and comprehensive introduction to developments in geological theory during the nineteenth century, Mott T. Greene asserts that the standard accounts of nineteenth-century geology, which dwell on the work of Anglo-American scientists, have obscured the important contributions of Continental geologists; he balances this traditional emphasis with a close study of the innovations of the French, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Swiss geologists whose comprehensive theory of earth history actually dominated geological thought of the time. Greene's account of the Continental scientists places the history of geology in a new light: it demonstrates that scientific interest in the late nineteenth century shifted from uniform and steady processes to periodic and cyclic events-rather than the other way around, as the Anglo-American view has represented it. He also puts continental drift theory in its context, showing that it was not a revolutionary idea but one that emerged naturally from the Continental geologists' foremost subject of study-the origin of mountains, oceans, and continents. A careful inquiry into the nature of geology as a field poised between natural history and physical science, Geology in the Nineteenth Century will interest students and scholars of geology, geophysics, and geography as well as intellectual historians and historians of science.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Foreword

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Chapter 1. Hutton and Werner: First Principles

Chapter 2. The Convergence of Geognosy and Geology, 1802 -1818

Chapter 3. Elie de Beaumont and the First Global Tectonics

Chapter 4. The Origin of Mountain Ranges : European Debate, 1830 - 1874

Chapter 5. The Debate in North America, 1840 - 1873

Chapter 6. The Problem of the Alps and a Solution : Eduard Suess, 1875

Chapter 7. The Face of the Earth: Eduard Suess and the Second Global Tectonics

Chapter 8. The Nappe Theory in the Alps : Tectonics over Physics, 1878 - 1903

Chapter 9. New Orogenic Theory and Intercontinental Correlation

Chapter 10. The Decline of the Contraction Theory : The Challenge from Geophysics , 1870 - 1909

Chapter 11. Thomas C. Chamberlin and the Third Global Tectonics

Chapter 12. Radioactivity, Continental Drift, and the Fourth Global Tectonics , 1908 - 1912

Epilogue

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: p. 299-313.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed Jan. 23, 2017)

ISBN:

9781501704734

1501704737

9781501704741

1501704745

OCLC:

1016851969