Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences: From Heresy to Truth

James Powell

Published by Columbia University Press 2014

Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences

From Heresy to Truth

James Powell

https://doi.org/10.7312/powe16448

Overview
Contents

About this book

How does science advance from entrenched orthodoxy to embrace new ideas? How do we come to accept as truths propositions that at first seem like heresies?

Author / Editor information

James Lawrence Powell serves as executive director of the National Physical Science Consortium, a partnership among government agencies and laboratories, industry, and higher education dedicated to increasing the number of American citizens with graduate degrees in the physical sciences and related engineering fields, emphasizing recruitment of a diverse applicant pool that includes women and minorities. He received his Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has taught at Oberlin College and served as its acting president. He has also been president of Franklin and Marshall College, Reed College, the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush both appointed Powell to the National Science Board. He is also the author of The Inquisition of Climate Science.

Reviews

David Morrison:
This is first-rate story telling, with heroes, villians, and the often-unexpected discoveries that created revolutions in our concept of the planet.

Seth Stein, Northwestern University, author of Disaster Deferred: How New Science is Changing Our View of Earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone:
This clear and well-written book offers four classic examples that show how science progresses—despite tough opposition, generally accepted ideas are often slowly replaced by newer, better ones. As an apocryphal medical school dean told incoming students: 'Half of what we will teach you in the next four years is wrong. The problem is that we don't know which half.' James Lawrence Powell's new title provides a lively look at how the sciences, in this case the geosciences, really work.

Absorbing.

Spencer Weart, director emeritus of the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics, author of The Discovery of Global Warming:
James Lawrence Powell breaks new ground. His scholarship is deep, and his stories are well-written and enriched with human detail. Anyone with an interest in how science progresses will profit from reading this book.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
PART I. DEEP TIME
The Abyss of Time Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
A Great Mistake Has Been Made Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
The Bank of Time Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Account Overdrawn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
Strange Rays Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
An Hourglass of Great Precision Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
Geochronology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
Duck Soup Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
PART II. CONTINENTAL DRIFT AND PLATE TECTONICS
An Idea to Pursue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
A Very Trusting Man Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Dead on Arrival Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Geologists Unite Against Heresy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Continental Drift: Not Even Wrong Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Postwar Surprises Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
Wandering Poles or Drifting Continents? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
The Final Confrontation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Spreading Seafloors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
HypotHESSes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
The Discovery of the Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
All This Rubbish Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
PART III. METEORITE IMPACT
A Trivial Process Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
To Hunt a Star Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
The Moon’s Face Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Rosetta Stone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
To a Rocky Moon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Worlds in Collision Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
Dinosaur Killer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Out with a Bang Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Cosmic Pinball Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
PART IV. GLOBAL WARMING
Origins of the CO₂ Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Tedious Calculations of Extraordinary Interest Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	246
Destructive Criticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
A Unique Experiment of Planetary Dimensions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Giant Brains Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Warming Is Unequivocal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
From Heresy to Truth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Recommended Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	329
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 384
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 27
- Other: <B>B&W Illus.: </B>27,

eBook

Published: December 23, 2014
ISBN: 9780231538459