Down to Earth

2019 ◽  
pp. 182-196
Author(s):  
Nicolaas Rupke
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Alexander Von Humboldt ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Epistemological Naturalism

The rise of naturalism in the earth sciences is discussed in terms of the disappearance from the geological literature of references to the Bible and God. From Immanuel Kant’s ground-breaking nebular hypothesis of 1755, such references were to be found with decreasing frequency in the leading treatises that dealt with the origin and historical development of Earth. Biblical cosmogony and God-talk were not included in the new earth and planetary sciences but relegated to the sphere of metaphysics. Especially Alexander von Humboldt, by the middle of the nineteenth century, proved trend-setting, and the Humboldtian approach of epistemological naturalism acquired predominance. All the same, in many instances, the disentanglement of geology and theology did not go with anti-religious sentiment but with what Ronald Numbers refers to as the privatization of religion.

The observatory, the land-based ship and the crusades: earth sciences in European context, 1830–50

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
FABIEN LOCHER
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Terrestrial Environment ◽  
European Context ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
The Earth

AbstractThe 1830s and 1840s witnessed a European movement to accumulate data about the terrestrial environment, enterprises including the German and British geomagnetic crusades. This movement was not limited to geomagnetic studies but notably included an important meteorological component. By focusing on observation practices in sedentary and expeditionary contexts, this paper shows how the developing fields of geomagnetism and meteorology were then intimately interlinked. It analyses the circulation and cross-connections of the practices and discourses shared by these two research fields. Departing from a Humboldtian historiography, the paper especially stresses the role of Adolphe Quetelet, director of the Brussels Observatory, whose importance in the development of the earth sciences has until now been largely neglected. It reassesses the involvement of the French scientific community in the British and German geomagnetic crusades, moving beyond the well-known account of Arago's opposition to these undertakings. It is hoped thereby to contribute to a better historical understanding of the renewal of the earth sciences in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.

scholarly journals Próba przezwyciężenia doktryny podwójnej prawdy przez Galileusza

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-38
Author(s):  
Marek Sołtysiak
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Autonomy Of Science ◽  
Fides Et Ratio ◽  
Science And Faith

The article is an attempt to answer the question of whether Galileo has overcome the doctrine of double truth in Copernican letters. The answer to this question is not unequivocal, just as the ‘Galileo case’ is unequivocal. As it is well known, the attempt to defend Copernicanism ended tragically for him. He had to revoke his view that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Also, as for the „evidence” presented by him on this matter, it proved to be either insufficient or false. However, the principle of the autonomy of science and faith, his emphasis on the authority of scientific knowledge and the authority of the Bible survived the period of condemnation of his thoughts and made itself felt in the nineteenth century, and today they determine the fides et ratio relation.

The French Botanist Aimé Bonpland and Paleontology at Cuenca Del Plata

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Ottone
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
South America ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Tropical Plants ◽  
Alexander Von Humboldt ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Petrified Wood ◽  
Entre Rios

Mainly recognized in his role of naturalist-explorer by his travels with Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), and so by his studies on tropical plants from Central and South America, the French botanist Aimé Bonpland (1773-1858) pursued important paleontological investigations in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil. In the early nineteenth century, when the earth sciences were just developing at Cuenca del Plata, Bonpland collected invertebrates, mammal bones, and petrified wood. Most of his findings have never been published. A part of his collections has been held at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris since 1837. Alcide d'Orbigny (1802-1857) studied the pelecypods collected by Bonpland in Entre Ríos province, Argentina, and named a species in his honor: Arca bonplandiana d'Orbigny.

Nature Translated

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Critical Reception ◽  
Alexander Von Humboldt ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Extensive Analysis ◽  
Public Persona

Alexander von Humboldt was one of the most important scientists of the nineteenth century. He transformed understandings of the earth and space by rethinking nature as the interconnection of global forces. His vibrant, lyrical prose captivated British readers. This book offers the first extensive analysis of the translation, publication and critical reception of his works in Britain. It argues that style was key to the success of these translations and shows how Humboldt’s British translators, now largely forgotten figures, were pivotal in moulding his prose and his public persona as they reconfigured his works for readers in Britain and beyond.

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