Drifting continents and shifting theories / H.E. LeGrand.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

LeGrand, H. E. (Homer Eugene), 1944-2017.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Continental drift.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Science--Methodology.

Physical Description:

vi, 313 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge [Eng.] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Summary:

This innovative book uses the story of how a modern science achieved its present shape and focus to examine the nature of scientific change and its philosophical and social analysis. The 'modern revolution in geology' of the 1960s and 1970s saw the triumph of the global theory of plate tectonics; a decisive turning point in fifty years' controversy and competition, first sparked in 1912 by Wegener's proposal of continental drift. Here, Professor Le Grand interweaves a history of this episode of scientific change with reflective discussions of its historical, philosophical and social circumstances, and of the development of science more generally.

Contents:

2 Solid as a rock? Geology before Wegener 17

3 Wegener and his theory: antecedents and arguments 37

4 Debate around the earth 55

5 Specialties, localism and problem-solving 80

6 Interregnum: competion and stalemate 100

7 Palacomagnetism, Drift and polar wandering 138

8 Patterns and puzzles from the sea 170

9 Shifting theories 188

10 The 'revolution' proclaimed 229

11 Theories of scientific change and the modern revolution in geology 267.

Notes:

Includes index.

"The modern revolution in geology and scientific change."

Bibliography: pages [279]-304.

ISBN:

0521322103

0521311055

OCLC:

187417786