scholarly journals The Founder of Modern Geology Died 100 Years Ago: The Scientific Work and Legacy of Eduard Suess

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Celâl Şengör
Keyword(s):  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Urban Geology ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of Geology ◽  
The Face ◽  
Il Y A ◽  
History Of ◽  
Magnum Opus ◽  
Géologie Urbaine

Eduard Suess (1831-1914) is probably the greatest geologist who ever lived. He died 100 years ago and left us the modern geology as we know it. His work ranged from paleontology through stratigraphy, geomorphology, urban geology, finally to tectonics. His magnum opus was the multi-volume Das Antlitz der Erde (The Face of the Earth), the greatest book in the history of geology. It is a complete description of the geology of the planet from the viewpoint of the theory of thermal contraction in Constant Prévost’s version, as modified by Suess. For all the admiration it caused it has been largely left unread and as a consequence geology lost some half a century until the invention of plate tectonics in 1965. This was in part, because the way Suess wrote the book made reading very difficult. The following is not a biography of Suess, but a review and evaluation of his work during the centenary of his death.RÉSUMÉEduard Suess (1831-1914) est probablement le plus grand géologue qui ait jamais vécu. Il est mort il y a 100 ans et il nous a laissé la géologie moderne telle que nous la connaissons. Son oeuvre va de la paléontologie à la stratigraphie, la géomorphologie, la géologie urbaine, enfin jusqu’à la tectonique. Son magnum opus est le multi-volume Das Antlitz der Erde (La Face de la Terre), le plus grand livre de l’histoire de la géologie. C’est une description complète de la géologie de la planète du point de vue de la théorie de la contraction thermique dans la version de Constant Prévost, modifiée par Suess lui -même. En dépit de l’admiration dont il était l’objet , ce grand livre a été très peu lu. En conséquence la géologie a perdu près d’un demi-siècle jusqu’à l’invention de la tectonique des plaques en 1965. C’est en partie a cause de la façon dont Suess a écrit le livre qui rend la lecture très difficile. Ce qui suit n’est pas une biographie de Suess, mais un examen et une évaluation de son travail à l’occasion du centenaire de sa mort.

Teaching the History of Geology

1993 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-242
Author(s):  
David Leveson
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Brooklyn College ◽  
Original Writings ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of Geology ◽  
Current Belief ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Undergraduate Science ◽  
Sophisticated Technology

The content and form of a course in the history of geology are dictated by the nature of the subject matter, the conceived purpose of the course, the background of the instructor and the students who participate, and the availability of appropriate readings. In an undergraduate course just offered by the Brooklyn College Geology Department, half the class were geology majors, half non-science majors. The stated aim of the course was epistemological: a consideration of how one comes to believe something. Investigation was pursued through a comparison of different historiographic accounts of major ideas, episodes and figures in the history of geology: the age of the earth; the meaning of fossils; 17th and 18th C ‘theories of the earth’; the denudation dilemma; the basalt and granite controversies; directionalism; Lyell's ‘uniformitarianism’; fluvialism, diluvialism, and glacialism. Where possible, original writings were consulted; the recent advent of a low cost reprint of Lyell's "Principles" was particularly fortunate. Inevitably, the methods, boundaries, controls, and workings of science were questioned, as was the meaning of ‘truth.’ The history of geology is a particularly useful tool for such an epistemological investigation because, prior to its mid-19th C professionalization, geology was relatively free of arcane jargon or sophisticated technology; thus, it is accessible to students with minimal scientific background. The students came to appreciate the relative character of knowledge and the probable evanescence of current belief. As for myself, trained as a geologist, I came to respect the insights and problems of historians, philosophers and sociologists, and to appreciate the pitfalls and opportunities of teaching in an area beyond one's expertise. Going out on a limb, I suggest that a course in the history of geology could serve well as partially fulfilling undergraduate science requirements.

Vening Meinesz and the theory of Wegener

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-231
Author(s):  
Willemjan Barzilay
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Anomaly ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vening Meinesz

The Dutch geophysicist Felix Vening Meinesz is a familiar name in the history of plate tectonics, because of his discovery of the so-called Meinesz zone, a large-scale gravity anomaly in Indonesia. However, what is not familiar is how he himself viewed the theory of Wegener. This article traces how Vening Meinesz thought about Wegener's theory, how it related to his scientific work and how his view of it changed during his career. Vening Meinesz influenced how Dutch geologists thought about Wegener's theory.

Knowledge From Underground: Leibniz Mines the Enlightenment

1997 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Hamm
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Administrative Work ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of Geology ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Mining Machinery ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Fantastic

The history of geology has focused largely on the foundations of geology in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Considerable attention has also been given to grand theories of the earth, or cosmogonies, of the seventeenth century. This approach has left out most of eighteenth-century mineralogy; it has also left out mining. The argument here is that Leibniz's Protogaea is best understood in the context of the Harz mines, where Leibniz spent considerable energy doing administrative work and inventing new mining machinery. By looking to the mines we not only make sense of Protogaea, but of most of German mineralogy in the eighteenth century. J. G. Lehmann, J. F. W. Charpentier, C. G. Delius and many other practitioners working in and around mines were deeply concerned with mapping the subterranean structure of the earth's crust and they contrasted their work with the "fantastic" world of theorists. The Freiberg Mining Academy, other institutions, and the way vocabularies of mining changed will also be considered. Finally there are some concluding thoughts on why mining has almost disappeared from the history of geology.

Ali Mehmet Celâl Şengör: A geologist who unravels the histories of continents and oceans

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. v-viii
Author(s):  
Ali Polat ◽  
John F. Dewey
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
Canadian Journal ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
History Of Geology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Rocky Planets

This second issue of the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences special issue dedicated to Ali Mehmet Celâl Şengör for his outstanding contributions to plate tectonics and history of geology includes 11 research articles. These articles have diverse subject matters dealing with tectonic processes in California, Africa, Asia, Iceland, Europe, Canada, and rocky planets. The summaries and main conclusions of these articles are presented here.

WAJAH KERAHIMAN ALLAH DALAM PERJANJIAN LAMA

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 74-81
Author(s):  
Agustinus Supriyadi
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The People ◽  
God's Love ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

The theme is taken for this Jubilee is "Compassionate like God - Like the Merciful Father" (Lk 6:36).God is essentially show mercy, even declared himself the Almighty through His mercy. We must realize that God's mercy was not a sign of weakness, but a sign of power. Since the Old Testament, God invites each individual to reflect on his mercy, as proclaimed by the prophet Zephaniah. God has to get rid of the punishment that fell upon His people (Zephaniah 3:15). God is also present in the midst of His people (Zephaniah 3:17) expressed his compassion and solidarity. Moreover, God refurbish the people with His love (Zephaniah 3:17). God's mercy is transformed and entered into the history of mankind, in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the perfect face of God's mercy. Finally, everyone is called to show the face of the compassion of God through everyday life. God's love is so great that it revealed first of the works of creation. His love for man revealed in action by creating the universe and it is all provided for humans. Because after all there (the earth and its contents) God created man in the image of Himself.

Continental Drift—The Road to Plate Tectonics

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. W. Rogers ◽  
M. Santosh
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
Early History ◽  
World War ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

Alfred Wegener never set out to be a geologist. With an education in meteorology and astronomy, his career seemed clear when he was appointed Lecturer in those subjects at the University of Marburg, Germany. It wasn’t until 1912, when Wegener was 32, that he published a paper titled “Die Entstehung der Kontinente” (The origin of the continents) in a recently founded journal called Geologische Rundschau. This meteorologist had just fired the opening shot in a revolution that would change the way that geologists thought about the earth. In a series of publications and talks both before and after World War I, Wegener pressed the idea that continents moved around the earth independently of each other and that the present continents resulted from the splitting of a large landmass (we now call it a “supercontinent”) that previously contained all of the world’s continents. After splitting, they moved to their current positions, closing oceans in front of them and opening new oceans behind them. Wegener and his supporters referred to this process as “continental drift.” The proposal that continents moved around the earth led to a series of investigations and ideas that occupied much of the 20th century. They are now grouped as a set of concepts known as “plate tectonics.” We begin this chapter with an investigation of the history of this development, starting with ideas that preceded Wegener’s proposal. This is followed by a section that describes the reactions of different geologists to the idea of continental drift, including some comments that demonstrate the rancorous nature of the debate. The next section discusses developments between Wegener’s proposal and 1960, when Harry Hess suggested that the history of modern ocean basins is consistent with the concept of drifting continents. We finish the chapter with a brief description of seafloor spreading and leave a survey of plate tectonics to chapter 2. Although Wegener is credited with first proposing continental drift, some tenuous suggestions had already been made. We summarize some of this early history from LeGrand (1988).

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