The People Behind the Science By Katherine Cullen

Just now i completed reading The People Behind the Science By Katherine Cullen

Great book written by Great author Katherine Cullen.

I wanted to share few important quotations i found from this book.

Few quotations from the Introduction chapter

1) Certain advantages or privileges often accompany being the first, but sometimes the price paid is considerable.

Neil Armstrong,the first man to walk on the Moon, began flying lessons at age 16,toiled at numerous jobs to pay tuition, studied diligently to earn his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, flew 78 combat missions in Korea as a brave navy pilot, worked as a civilian test pilot for seven years, then as an astronaut for NASA for another seven years, and made several dangerous trips into space before the historic Apollo 11 mission. He endured rigorous physical and mental preparation, underwent years of training, and risked his life to courageously step foot where no man had ever walked before.Armstrong was a pioneer of space exploration.

2) Reliance upon observation suggested that strata were laid down naturally,that earthquakes and volcanoes transformed the Earth’s structure,and that erosion played a significant role in shaping the Earth’s surface.Uniformitarianism,the belief that the Earth has been shaped continuously over immense periods of geological time by processes that still operate today, replaced catastrophism as the most accepted theory for the formation of the Earth’s physical features.

Today scientists subscribe to a more balanced view, believing that both gradual processes and catastrophes have played important roles during the Earth’s history.

3) Earth science is the study of the Earth, its origin, its structure,the changes it has undergone, and the past and future consequences of those changes. The field can be divided into four major branches.

a) Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere and the variations in conditions such as wind, moisture, temperature, and pressure that affect weather.

b) Oceanography, the science of the oceans, encompasses all natural sciences (such as biology, chemistry,
geology, and physics) as they are applied to a marine environment.

c) The branch of astronomy deals with all matter in the universe and examines the effects of Earth on and by other objects within the cosmos.

d) Geology is the science that deals with the Earth’s crust, its composition, and its history.

4) Geologists study the material components of the Earth’s surface and interior, as well as the natural processes that occur on the Earth.They apply information and methods from chemistry, physics, and biology to learn about the components of the planet, land, water,and air. While physical geologists are concerned with the material components of the Earth and the processes that act upon them, historical
geologists focus on the origin of the planet and the changes that have occurred during the past 4.6 billion years.

5) Geology was not recognized as a scientific endeavor until the 15th century, when a physician named Georgius Agricola developed a logical system for classifying minerals.

6) James Hutton(Father of Mordern Geology), explained the shape of the Earth as a result of repeated cycles of degradation and sedimentation, leading to the formation of new strata, followed by violent volcanic upheavals.

7) Alexander von Humboldt was a natural philosopher who, at the turn of the 19th century, explored virtually unknown geographic regions seeking natural laws that would relate the Earth’s structure, its climate, and its inhabitants.

8) Georges Cuvier examined stratigraphical columns in the Paris basin and concluded that sudden breaks represented geological catastrophes in Earth’s history that caused the extinction of species.

9) Self-taught English surveyor William Smith noted that rock beds that shared features such as the same texture, composition, and color also contained similar fossil species, and he utilized this information to create the world’s first geological map.

10) The publishing of the influential text Principles of Geology, written by Charles Lyell, thrust uniformitarianism into the mainstream and taught geologists how to learn about the past from carefully observing the present.

11) Alfred Wegener agitated the field when he proposed that the continents were not stable but drifted over the surface of the globe.Though he presented geological, climatological, paleontological, paleomagnetic,and biological evidence, Earth scientists were hesitant to accept such an outlandish theory until three decades later when Harry Hammond Hess proposed seafloor spreading as a reasonable mechanism.

12) English geophysicist Arthur Holmes faced skepticism when he tried to convince his colleagues that radiometric dating was the most reliable method for estimating the age of the Earth.

13) American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould developed the theory of punctuated equilibrium to explain the lack of intermediate forms in the fossil record and went further to restructure the theory of evolution by natural selection.

14) Though direct observation cannot reveal the answers, Mother Earth has graciously exposed herself in a variety of unique ways, through earthquakes and volcanism, as well as milder but more incessant processes such as weathering and erosion.

With this introduction of the book is completed.

Now few quotations from the Chapter 1 about Georgius Agricola

1) A long time ago, someone thought it would be useful to develop a mineral classification system based on physical properties. This man was a 16th-century physician who called himself Georgius Agricola.His efforts resulted in the inauguration of geology as a science.

2) Geology is the scientific study of the origin, history, and structure of the Earth.

3) Agricola proposed that mountains were formed from winds moving sand, subterranean winds, earthquakes, volcanic fires, and water erosion.

4) Agricola emphasized the importance of relying on observation rather than speculation. This was a practice by which he lived, and in doing so, he converted mineralogy from an occupation into a scientific discipline.

CHRONOLOGY

1494 Georgius Agricola is born on March 24 in Glauchau, Germany
1514–18 Studies at the University of Leipzig
1518–22 Teaches Latin and Greek at a school in Zwickau
1520 Writes first work, De prima ac simplici institutione grammatica (On the elements and simple instruction of grammar)
1523–26 Studies medicine at the Universities of Bologna and Padua in Italy
Early 1520s Works at Aldina Press
1527–33 Serves as the town physician in Joachimsthal
1530 Publishes Bermannus; sive de re metallica dialogues (Bermannus; or a dialogue on metallurgy)
1531–33 Publishes books on economics and politics
1533 Begins working as the town physician in Chemnitz
1534–54 Serves as court historiographer
1546 Agricola is appointed mayor of Chemnitz and diplomatic representative to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He publishes De ortu et causis subterraneorum (On the emergence of materials from underground) and De natura fossilum (On the nature of fossils).
1554 Publishes De peste (On the plague)
1555 Dies on November 21 in Chemnitz
1556 De re metallica (On metallurgy) is published posthumously

Few quotations from the Chapter 2 about Nicolaus Steno

1) Nicolaus Steno believed that the Earth revealed its historical secrets in the structure of its geological strata, or horizontal layers of rock.

2) The 17thcentury French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes had popularized the method of systemically doubting everything at first. Direct observation or other reliable proof was necessary to attain absolute certainty.

CHRONOLOGY

1638 Niels Stensen (Nicolaus Steno) is born on January 1 in Copenhagen, Denmark
1648 Begins attending the Vor Frue School
1656–59 Studies medicine at the University of Copenhagen
1660 Discovers the duct of the parotid glands
1660–63 Studies at the University of Leiden
1662 Publishes Anatomical Observations
1664 Publishes On Muscles and Glands and receives a medical degree from the University of Leiden in absentia
1665 Presents Discourse on the Anatomy of the Brain in Paris (published in 1669)
1666 Dissects a shark head
1667 Publishes Elements of Muscular Knowledge, including his shark head dissection report as an addendum, and converts to Catholicism
1668 Receives a summons from the Danish king to return to Denmark
1669 Publishes Prodromus, articulating the law of superposition,the principle of original horizontality, and the principle of lateral extension
1672 Arrives in Copenhagen to serve as royal anatomist
1674–76 Returns to Florence and tutors the crown prince
1677 Is consecrated as bishop for the northern missions
1677–86 Serves the northern European Catholic missions
1686 Dies at age 48 on November 25 in Schwerin, Germany
1988 Pope John Paul II beatifies Steno

Few quotations from the Chapter 3 about James Hutton

1) James Hutton believed the chief agent for major geological changes was heat generated deep underneath the Earth’s crust. Proponents of Hutton’s theory of the Earth were called vulcanists—after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, due to the emphasis of his system on the action of heat and volcanoes—or plutonists,after the ruler of the underworld, Pluto.Hutton’s proposal of a continuously acting cyclical system of degradation of the land into sediment that was deposited into strata under the sea, followed by upheaval from volcanic activity, led to decades of debate.

2) German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner piloted this group of neptunists, who believed that
the Earth’s surface was formed by sedimentary deposition in a great turbulent ocean.

3) In a stroke of genius, Hutton resolved that the history of the Earth must be explained by events of the present.Events such as volcanic eruptions,weathering, and erosion must have had tremendous effects over long periods of time.

4) Hutton noticed that rocks consisted of strata, parallel orderly layers of consolidated sediment. The layers were composed of different materials that must have been derived from rocks even older than themselves. He thought this was similar to what was currently happening on the ocean floor, where a new layer of sediment was forming. This new layer of sediment contained bits and pieces of
material that had been worn away from the land of some preexisting continent and carried out to sea by the natural flowing of waters. Hutton believed the subterranean heat emanating from the interior
of the Earth transformed these layers into solid structures. He was aware of the roles that pressure also played: the compaction from upper layers and the prevention of volatile substances from escaping.Thus the layers of sediment became consolidated after being compacted and cooked for long periods of time.

How could this mechanism account for the formation of mountains? If strata were formed under the sea, what about landmasses that existed thousands of feet above sea level? Hutton again believed that some power underneath the surface of the Earth was responsible.

5) Erosion played a key role in Hutton’s theory of how the Earth was sculpted.

6) Hutton was the first to recognize that igneous rocks were younger than the rocks in which they were found.

7) Irish chemist Richard Kirwan published an attack on Hutton’s theory in 1793. Kirwan was the president of the Royal Irish Academy and a staunch Werner devotee.

8) Support for Hutton’s Theory
After Hutton’s death, Scottish geologist and chemist James Hall published evidence supporting his friend’s theory. Hall initially had rejected Hutton’s theory, but over time and after numerous discussions and tours around Britain with Hutton, he became convinced of the truth of the geological cycle. Hall tried to persuade Hutton to perform certain experiments that would support his claims, but Hutton did not deem them necessary. Hutton felt the principles he delineated were clearly evident by observing nature and that nothing in a laboratory could significantly replicate the power of nature. Out of respect for Hutton, Hall refrained from pushing the issue.But after his death, Hall published several experiments that challenged the objections to Hutton’s ideas, bringing Hutton’s theory into the limelight. Hall’s first experiment demonstrated that igneous rocks could be converted to crystalline rocks. Neptunists did not believe that igneous rocks were once liquid but thought that if they were, they should turn into glass upon cooling, not crystalline rocks. By slowing down the cooling process, Hall was able to form an opaque crystalline material after melting fused basalt. Some were impressed by this. Others thought the results were sketchy, that perhaps some component was lost during the reaction that changed the chemical composition of the material. Next, Hall attacked the idea that marble could not be produced from limestone. It was thought that carbon dioxide would escape as a gas and only quicklime would result. So Hall heated limestone (a powdered chalk) in a sealed gun barrel to allow immense pressure to build up. This prevented the escape of any volatile components during the heating. Then he slowly cooled it and to his delight found marble inside! In another experiment, Hall was able to produce consolidated sandstone from heating sand with salt water. Incidentally, the series of over 500 experiments Hall performed in his quest to validate Hutton’s claims earned himself the title of founder of experimental geology and geochemistry.

9) Today Hutton’s ideas are summarized in the principle of uniformitarianism,which holds that the physical and chemical processes that occur today are the same as those that formed geological structures in the past, though it may be on an altered timescale.Uniformitarianism may be summarized as “the present is the key to the past,” a tenet that forms the basis of modern geology.

CHRONOLOGY

1726 James Hutton is born on June 3, in Edinburgh, Scotland
1740 Enters Edinburgh University to study humanities and becomes interested in chemistry
1743 Begins a law apprenticeship
1744–47 Studies medicine at the University of Edinburgh
1747 Moves to Paris to study anatomy
1749 Moves to Leiden, receives a medical degree, and enters a business venture making sal ammoniac
1750 Returns to Edinburgh and develops an interest in geology and mineralogy
1754–68 Farms in Berwickshire
1768 Returns to Edinburgh to pursue geological studies
1785 Hutton presents his paper, “Theory of the Earth,” to the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1788 Publishes “Theory of the Earth” in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1795 Publishes Theory of the Earth with Proofs and Illustrations in two volumes
1797 Dies on March 26 in Edinburgh
1899 The third volume of Theory of the Earth is published posthumously

Few quotations from the Chapter 4 about Alexander von Humboldt

1) Alexander von Humboldt embraced a philosophy of unification of the natural sciences long before the rest of the scientific world. His aspiration was to discover the connections among all
natural phenomena. He explored geographic regions that were practically unknown to the scientific world in search of natural laws that connected landforms, climate, and organisms.


CHRONOLOGY

1769 Alexander von Humboldt is born on September 12 in Berlin,Germany
1787 Enrolls at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder
1789 Enters the University of Göttingen with plans to study law but becomes interested in science
1790 Tours Europe with the explorer Georg Forster
1791 Enters Mining Academy at Freiberg
1792–97 Gains employment with Prussia’s mining department and establishes the first mine laborer training school
1799–1804 Travels to the Americas with Aimé Bonpland, studies Venezuela’s grasslands, maps the course of the Orinoco River, verifies the existence of the Casiquiare Canal, studies
volcanic mountains, and observes different life-forms at different altitudes
1804 Returns to Europe and begins compiling data and writing observations from his expedition
1807–39 Publishes Voyages to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent Made During the Years 1799 to 1804 in 30 volumes
1827 Accepts position as court chancellor in Berlin
1828 Publishes Political Essay on the Island of Cuba
1829 Explores the geography, geology, and climate of the Russian Empire
1843 Publishes Central Asia, a three-volume report of geographic,geological, and climatological observations
1845–62 Cosmos is published in five volumes
1859 Dies in Berlin on May 6

Few quotations from the Chapter 5 about Georges Cuvier

1) Georges Cuvier demonstrated that unknown animals really did exist and were gone forever.He suggested that catastrophic events had annihilated ancient species.

2) In 1796, Cuvier presented to the Institute his treatise Memoir on the Species of Elephants, Both Living and Fossils. He gave a detailed description of the osteological (related to the study of bones) features of two known elephant species, African and Indian. He discussed their teeth, skulls, and jaws, among other structures. Then he confidently claimed that fossil elephant remains belonged to a distinct third species, identified as Elephas primigenius, an extinct, hairy
mammoth.Cuvier responded that since the remains belonged to an entirely new species, the extinct animal might have been better adapted to cooler climates than the living species, thus the Earth might not necessarily be cooling. Nevertheless, Cuvier claimed there must have been a primitive, prehuman world that was destroyed by some major catastrophe.

Later that year Cuvier was sent plates of fossil bones found in South America. Using careful anatomical comparison, he concluded that this elephant-sized beast that he named megatherium was also extinct. He concluded that it was another animal from the ancient world. These studies increased Cuvier’s interest in fossil anatomy and set him on a mission to study all fossil animals.

He surmised that the Earth must have been previously crawling with vertebrate animals
that no longer existed; in other words, animals became extinct.

3) Regarding Earth’s history, Cuvier accepted the divisions of periods of time into epochs. He believed in a primary, universal, lifeless ocean prior to the formation of continents.Marine life appeared,then terrestrial life.The lack of human-type fossils and of intermediate fossils convinced him of the reality of extinction and creation of life in its original form.

The lack of human-type fossils and of intermediate fossils convinced him of the reality of extinction and creation of life in its original form.

4) Cuvier was a catastrophist. Catastrophism suggests that certain geological features of the Earth’s crust are the result of past cataclysmic events such as volcanic activity or a flood.

5) In his 1809 Zoological Philosophy, French naturalist Jean-Baptiste de Monet de Lamarck suggested that living things transmutated. Their forms gradually changed to become better adapted to their environment and these changes were passed on to the next generation. According to Lamarck, animals were becoming more and more complex. At the time it was popular to believe in the stability of life-forms—each creature existed as God originally had created it. The form of each creature was not subject to mutation. Change would not only violate moral law, but also decrease the ability of an animal to survive in the particular environment for which it was divinely suited. Besides, if animals were mutable, then the entire science of taxonomy would have no basis. Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hiliare, who had initially written Cuvier inducing him to move to Paris, and who himself believed that animals were subject to change, brought Cuvier some mummified ibises (a type of bird) from Egypt in 1802. After studying them, Cuvier found that though the mummified birds were more than 3,000 years old, their morphology was identical to current ibises. At the time, 3,000 years was considered a very long time. Most people believed the Earth itself was only about 6,000 years old. Cuvier thought that if they had not changed in 3,000 years, they were never going to change.

CHRONOLOGY

1769 Georges Cuvier is born on August 23 in Montbéliard
1784–88 Studies at Caroline University in Stuttgart
1788 Begins private tutoring in Normandy
1795 Starts teaching animal anatomy at the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris and is appointed professor of zoology at the Écoles Centrales
1796 Becomes member of the Class of Physical Sciences of the Institut de France and presents research identifying an extinct animal, Elephas primigenius
1800 Becomes professor of natural history at the Collège de France
1800–05 Publishes five volumes of Lessons in Comparative Anatomy
1802 Is appointed professor of comparative anatomy at the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle
1803 Becomes permanent secretary of physical sciences of the Institut de France
1804 Begins geological research on the succession of strata with Alexandre Brongniart
1808 Is appointed university counselor by Napoleon
1808–11 Publishes Mineral Geography of the Paris Region, which was rewritten and expanded into Geological Description of the Paris Region (1822, 1835)
1809–13 Travels to Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany to reorganize the higher education systems
1812 Publishes Researches on Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds
1814 Becomes councillor of state
1817 Publishes The Animal Kingdom, Distributed According to Its Organization
1819–32 Presides over the Interior Department of the Council of State
1826 Publishes Discourse on the Revolution of the Surface of the Globe, a separate printing of the Preliminary Discourse
from Researches on Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds
1828 Publishes first of 22 volumes of The Natural History of Fish
1830 Debates publicly with Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hiliare
1832 Dies on May 13 in Paris, France

Few quotations from the Chapter 6 about William Smith

1) William Smith was a self-taught surveyor who recognized the regular succession of strata across England and proposed that lithologically similar rock beds could be distinguished by the groups of characteristic fossils embedded within. Using this information, he created the world’s first large-scale geological map of an entire country.

2) After years of careful examination of the terrain across England, Smith formulated his principle of fossil succession, which he memorialized by writing in his journal of 1796.

The principle of fossil succession states that the sequence of fossils in rock strata is so regular that fossils can be used to identify the rocks in which they are embedded. Fossils can be used to establish the time sequence by which the rocks were laid. This was a new concept for geologists in the early 1800s, but today it is a basic principle of stratigraphy. Around the same time, Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart were also recognizing the utility of fossils in geological chronologies.

3) During the two-month excursion across England in 1794, Smith sketched a rough map of the Lower Jurassic sea cliffs of Lyme Regis. This small,seaside town on the Dorset coast was especially suited for fossil hunting.Due to the angle, the Triassic rocks are buried under the sea, but the older Jurassic rocks made of thick clays and thin limestone are exposed.These rocks were deposited in a sea that was packed with marine life.Lyme Regis also happened to be the future home of Mary Anning (1799–1847), a famous fossil collector. Though it is unlikely that Anning and Smith ever met, they shared an interest in these cliffs that were particularly rich in fossils. Fossils were to become Smith’s key to predicting the stratification of England’s underground.

Mary’s life was destined to be unusual when at age 15 months she survived a lightning strike. Her family suffered many other tragedies, including the deaths of her father and eight of her brothers and sisters. As a girl, she spent a lot of time searching for fossils on the shores underneath the cliffs near her home. After her father’s death, Mary’s family was poor. They sold fossils and other curiosities to supplement their meager welfare assistance.

When she was only 12, she found the fossil remains of a 17-foot-long ichthyosaur embedded in a rock that had fallen from the cliffs onto the shore. It took her almost one year to dig the specimen out, and no one knew what it was. Some called it a crocodile, others a fish. Scientists later determined it was from the Mesozoic era, which occurred between 65 and 48 million years ago. The Annings sold the fossil skeleton for a sum that fed the family for six months. Anning later unearthed several more ichthyosaurs, suggesting that there were several different species. Most of the recognition for the discovery of ichthyosaurs went to the people who purchased the fossils Anning found.

In 1823, she came across another amazing discovery, a skeleton about nine feet (2.7 m) long and six feet (1.8 m) wide, with a small head, long neck, and the body of a turtle, but no shell. This creature was named a plesiosaur. Later it was determined to have lived during the middle of the Mesozoic era. The discovery earned Anning a reputation of being a superior fossil hunter. She continued to collect specimens and sold them to famous noblemen and scientists, allowing her to purchase a new home for her family in 1826.

Anning was the first to recognize that coprolites were fossilized dung.In 1828, she found the near perfect remains of a flying reptile. This was the first pterosaur, or “winged lizard,” also from the Mesozoic era. The next year, she found an unknown fish species, Squaloraja, that resembles an intermediate between sharks and rays. In late 1830, she discovered the Plesiosaurus macrocephalus, or plesiosaur with a bigger head.Mary Anning died in 1847 of breast cancer. A few months before she died, she was made an honorary member of the Geological Society of London. Many of her fossil finds are displayed in museums across Europe. Though some claim she earned her fame by luck, her persistence,skill, and recognition of unusual and important finds led Anning to become one of the greatest fossilists ever known.

4) John Cary, a highly regarded English cartographer, agreed to publish Smith’s map in 1812.

CHRONOLOGY

1769 William Smith is born on March 23 in Churchill,Oxfordshire, England
1787 Becomes assistant surveyor to Edward Webb
1791 Travels to north Somerset to survey and value an estate
1793–99 Plans route and supervises digging of the Somerset Coal Canal in southeastern England
1796 Discovers that rock beds with similar compositions can be distinguished by their fossil assemblages
1799 Dictates list of strata and characteristic fossils of Bath to two clergymen and begins a series of engineering jobs all over Britain
1806 Publishes book on irrigation and water meadows,Observations on the Utility, Form, and Management of Water Meadows. Shows fossil collection to members of the new Geological Society of London
1812 Completes geological map, which is accepted by publisher John Cary
1815 Publishes geological map, A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales, with Part of Scotland. Begins selling fossil collection to the British Museum due to money troubles
1816–19 Publishes Strata Identified by Organized Fossils
1817 Publishes Stratigraphical System of Organized Fossils Part I
1819–24 Publishes geological maps of 21 English counties
1831 Receives the first Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London for outstanding achievement in geology
1839 Dies on August 28 in Northampton, England

Few quotations from the Chapter 7 about Sir Charles Lyell

1) In the early 1830s, Sir Charles Lyell authored the pioneering work,Principles of Geology, a textbook that propelled uniformitarianism into the geological mainstream and is now considered a classic in the field. With this single influential work, he firmly established geology as a science by convincing geologists to study the present to learn about the past.

2) Lyell entered Exeter College at Oxford University in January 1816 to study Greek, Latin, and the writings of Aristotle. Having already read Introduction to Geology (1813) by Robert Bakewell, he
was anxious to attend the mineralogy and geology lectures given by William Buckland. The English geology professor was a neptunist,meaning he supported the theories of German geologist Abraham
Gottlob Werner, who proposed the then commonly accepted idea that all rocks on the Earth were formed from a vast, ancient ocean that completely covered the planet and shaped the structure of its surface with swirling, turbulent waters.

3) Lyell believed that the steady accumulation of changes from earthquakes and volcanic activity caused the elevation and disturbances found in the sedimentary rocks.

4) Analysis of the flora and fauna of the Canary Islands in addition to the species’ geographical distribution induced Lyell to ponder the question of the origin of species. In 1856, further discussions with Darwin prepared him to accept with certainty the process of species evolution. Acceptance of the fact that species could evolve into new species forced Lyell to consider the prehistory of humans.Scientists were uncovering paleontological evidence that suggested
humans had been around much longer than believed. A human skeleton with apelike features was discovered in Neanderthal,Germany, in 1857, and in 1859, a man-made tool was found embedded in ancient river gravel in France in a location previously believed to be much older than man. These developments were too important simply to add into new editions of Elements or Principles, so Lyell composed a new work, The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man. The book summarized substantial data for the evolution, or gradual change, in all species and provided evidence
that humans had evolved from other animal species over a long period of time.

CHRONOLOGY
1797 Sir Charles Lyell is born on November 14 in Kinnordy,Kirriemuir, Scotland
1816 Enters Exeter College, Oxford University
1818 Travels with family to continental Europe. Observes the effect of moving glaciers and recognizes an age succession in rock exposures
1819 Receives a bachelor’s degree in the classics from Oxford University and enters Lincoln’s Inn to study law.
1824 Reads his first paper, on limestone formation, to the Geological Society of London
1825–27 Practices law but continues to study geology
1830–33 Publishes the extremely successful book Principles of Geology in three volumes
1831–33 Works as a professor of geology at King’s College in London
1834 Royal Society of London awards Lyell the Royal Medal
1845 Publishes Travels in North America
1848 Queen Victoria knights Lyell
1858 Publishes a paper on the structures of lava that destroys Leopold von Buch’s theory of craters of elevation
1863 Publishes The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, about the evolution of humans
1864 Publicly declares his support for Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection. Queen Victoria makes Lyell a baronet
1875 Dies on February 22 following a lengthy illness in London,England

Few quotations from the Chapter 8 about Alfred Wegener

1) Alfred Wegener first proposed the notion that continents have moved significant distances over hundreds of millions of years. His theory of continental displacement explained a variety of mysteries such as the uneven distribution of continents around the globe, the preferential location of mountain chains along the edges of continents, changes in climate over periods of time, earthquakes, and the geographical distribution of fossils and extant species. Early 19th-century geologists were not ready to accept Wegener’s theory, later termed continental drift, yet decades later it revolutionized the Earth sciences.

2) Wegener researched paleontological, biological, and geological similarities across oceans. He found fossils for similar extinct plants and animals in both Brazil and Africa.Biological evidence, including unique species such as hippopotamuses found only in Madagascar and Africa and lemurs found only in East Africa, Madagascar, and across the Indian Ocean, indicated that those areas once must have been joined.

3) He hypothesized that India, Madagascar, and Africa once comprised a land called Lemuria in order to explain the distribution of lemurs and hippopotamuses. (Today scientists believe Madagascar separated from Africa about 165 million years ago.)

CHRONOLOGY
1880 Alfred Lothar Wegener is born on November 1, in Berlin,Germany
1905 Obtains a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Berlin and accepts a position at the Royal Prussian Aeronautical Observatory
1906 Breaks flight record in a balloon and joins Danish expedition to Greenland to study polar air masses
1908–12 Lectures in meteorology at the Physical Institute of Marburg, in Germany
1911 Publishes Thermodynamik der Atmosphäre (Thermodynamics of the atmosphere)
1912 Presents theory of continental drift at the Frankfurt Geological Association meeting. His paper is titled, “The Geophysical Basis of the Evolution of the Large-Scale Features of the Earth’s Crust (Continents and Oceans)”
1912–13 Leads second expedition to Greenland to study glaciology and climatology
1914–19 Serves as junior military officer for the German army during World War I
1915 Publishes theory of continental displacement in DieEntstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The Origin of Continents and Oceans, its English translation, is published in 1924)
1919 Works at the meteorological experimental station of the German Marine Observatory in Hamburg
1924 Becomes a professor of meteorology and geophysics at the University of Graz
1929–30 Leads third expedition to Greenland to set up weather stations
1930 Leads fourth expedition to Greenland. On November 1st he leaves a base in central Greenland, heading toward a glaciological field station and is never seen alive again
1931 Expedition members find Wegener’s body in May

Few quotations from the Chapter 9 about Arthur Holmes

1) Among the 20th century’s most important geoscientists, Arthur Holmes was a pioneer of geochronology and one of the first to use radioactive evidence concealed within the rocks for determining their age.Though many scientists accepted the true age of the Earth to be 20 million years,Holmes estimated it to be closer to 4.5 billion years using methodology dependent upon the radioactive decay of unstable elements.

2) While Holmes’s major passion was finding absolutes for geological time, he was also knowledgeable about other subjects. In 1915, German meteorologist Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) proposed the theory of continental drift, suggesting all the continents once were part of an enormous supercontinent that broke into pieces that have been drifting around the globe for millions of years.

3) Though in the last 50 years scientists have obtained new data and made adjustments to improve accuracy, the assessment of 4.55 billion years remains the currently accepted value.

CHRONOLOGY

1890 Arthur Holmes is born on January 14 in Gateshead, England.
1910 Graduates in geology and physics from Imperial College in London and begins studying radioactivity in rocks with R. J. Strutt
1911 Labors as a geological prospector in Mozambique. Strutt presents Holmes’s radiometric dating results of a Devonian rock to the Royal Society
1912–20 Works as demonstrator in geology at Imperial College
1913 Uses phenomenon of radioactivity to estimate the age of the Earth at 1,600 million years and publishes the first edition of The Age of the Earth
1920–22 Works as chief geologist for an oil company in Burma
1924 Becomes reader in geology at the University of Durham
1925–43 Heads geology department at the University of Durham
1927 Publishes second edition of The Age of the Earth, including a geological timescale
1929 Proposes convection currents as a mechanism for continental drift at a meeting of the Geological Society of Glasgow
1931 Publishes “Radioactivity and Earth Movements”
1943 Becomes regius professor of geology at the University of Edinburgh
1944 Publishes first edition of the classic textbook Principles of Physical Geology
1947 Constructs geological timescale obtained by combining sedimentation thicknesses with radiometric data
1956 Retires from the University of Edinburgh due to declining health
1959 Publishes revised geological timescale
1965 Having completed major revisions for the second edition Principles of Physical Geology, Holmes dies on September 20 in London, at age 75, from bronchial pneumonia

Few quotations from the Chapter 10 about Stephen Jay Gould

1) Trained in paleontology, Gould was the 20th century’s most prominent interpreter
of evolutionary thought. He was a prolific, award-winning author, particularly concerning the origins and diversity of life, who wrote for the general public as well as for a scientific audience.

2) Gould continued thinking about uniformitarianism and the other extreme, catastrophism, the belief that Earth’s geological formations, such as mountains and lakes, resulted from tremendous catastrophes, such as floods or earthquakes.

3) Gould exhibited an extraordinary breadth of knowledge, and people often asked his opinions on divisive issues. Though frequently questioned about the possibility of life on other planets, he never responded with a simple yes or no but took care to explain that, given the variety of Earthly life-forms and the vastness of the universe, it seemed improbable that only Earth provided conditions permissive of the origin and support of life. Gould staunchly opposed biological determinism, the assumption that biology determines individual differences, making them unchangeable. Believing that science could never be detached completely from a personal
dimension because scientists are human, Gould often spoke about the cultural embeddedness of science, the fact that society influences scientific endeavors.

CHRONOLOGY

1941 Stephen Jay Gould is born on September 10 in New York City.
1963 Earns a bachelor’s degree in geology and philosophy from Antioch College
1966 Becomes assistant professor of geology at Antioch College
1967 Receives a Ph.D. in paleontology from Columbia University and joins faculty at Harvard University as an assistant professor of geology and assistant curator of
invertebrate paleontology
1971 Becomes associate professor of geology and associate curator of invertebrate paleontology at Harvard University 1972 Publishes paper, “Punctuated Equilibria: An Alternative to Phyletic Gradualism” with Niles Eldredge in Models in Paleobiology
1973 Is promoted to full professor of geology and curator of invertebrate paleontology at Harvard University
1974–2001 Writes 300 consecutive monthly essays for the column “This View of Life” in Natural History magazine
1975 The Paleontological Society awards Gould the Schuchert Award for excellence in paleontological research by a scientist less than 40 years of age
1981 Receives a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation, is named Scientist of the Year by Discover magazine, and publishes The Mismeasure of a Man. Gould also serves as an expert witness in a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of an Arkansas law requiring biology teachers
to teach intelligent design along with evolution
1982 Is named the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard University
1987 Publishes the book Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle
1989 Publishes the book Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
1996 Becomes the Vincent Astor Visiting Research Professor of Biology at New York University
2002 Dies from lung cancer on May 20 in Manhattan, shortly after publishing The Structure of Evolutionary Theory


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