Amazon.com
Widely dismissed as crank science in earlier generations, the theory of plate tectonics--which explains the movement of continents in geological time, as well as the formation of the earth's major features--is now largely accepted as fact within the scientific community.
Drawing on the memories of major theoreticians in the field, scientist and historian Naomi Oreskes offers a vivid history of just how that transformation occurred. She describes the early quest on the part of James Dana, Alfred Wegner, J. H. Hodgson, and other scientists to account for the mechanics of earthquakes and certain puzzling features of geomorphology, a quest widened and strengthened by the work of deep-ocean explorers who were able, beginning in the 1960s, to study tectonics at work far below the surface of the world's waters. Such advances, as pioneer Peter Molnar and others explain, did not immediately change the way geologists went about their work, but they quickly went on to revolutionize science--and then, as such things do, to become orthodox.
A useful reference for students of geology and the history of science, this book is also easily accessible to nonspecialists. --Gregory McNamee
From Publishers Weekly
Readers who went to school before the late 1960s will probably remember that their science teachers couldn't explain why South America and Africa seemed to fit together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. It was not until 1968 that the theory of plate tectonics was formulated and quickly accepted by scientists around the world. This collection of 18 essays is written by the researchers (such as Frederick J. Vine and Lawrence Morley) who made the discoveries that established the phenomenon of plate tectonics. While the idea of "continental drift" had been proposed as early as 1596 and reappeared at various times throughout history, scientists had always rejected it. Then in the late 1950s and '60s, geologists discovered great rifts in the undersea mountain ranges that girdle the ocean, as well as regular patterns of alternating magnetic polarities in the ocean floor. These and other findings confirmed continental drift and explained the existence of volcanic islands and even earthquakes en masse. Readers with little or no background in geology will be able to follow these well-written and generally jargon-free personal accounts, but the book will appeal most to hard-core science buffs and budding geophysicists. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
When the fundamentals of plate tectonics are explained in any basic geology textbook, it is easy to forget that in the 1960s it was a revolutionary idea that completely transformed earth science. "As the far-reaching success of these ideas became clear, we all rapidly became famous," writes Dan McKenzie, then a geophysics graduate student at Cambridge who launched his academic career on the new discoveries. McKenzie is one of 17 scientists invited to contribute personal memories of those early days to this collection of essays, edited by Oreskes (history, Univ. of California, San Diego). This is an important historical record, and it is fascinating to read how, once the data became available, the details of sea-floor spreading, mid-oceanic ridges, and subduction zones began to form a complete and convincing model. Nonetheless, this is largely an academic history of research and conferences, computer models, and the race to publish. For an overview of how plate tectonics works, academic libraries should buy a textbook such as Kent C. Condie's Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997. 4th ed.), and school libraries should consider Helen Roney Sattler and Giulio Maestro's Our Patchwork Planet (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1995). Amy Brunvand, Univ. of Utah Lib., Salt Lake City Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Most scientific revolutions bring the scientists fame; however, that axiom did not hold for the geophysicists who posited that the earth's entire surface moves in a system of fractured plates. These dozen and a half personal essays, written by the young Turks of earth science in the 1960s, recall the authors' roles in the revolution. The theme common to all the essayists is that plate tectonics may seem to be an obvious theory in retrospect, but it was difficult to discern at the outset. For instance, "noise" infects every data set, and sets collected from magnetometers, temperature probes, gravimeters, sonars, and seismometers inevitably contained anomalies--ammo for the orthodox critics of continental drift. But striking patterns, like the discovery of zebralike stripes of magnetized seafloor, could not be explained away as erratic data points. Fortunate to have begun their careers when the new paradigm was shaping up, these authors impart the excitement, contention, and competition of overturning accepted but erroneous science. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Book News, Inc.
This volume includes 17 essays from scientists who played crucial roles in the development of plate tectonics in the late 1960s. Oreskes (history, U. of California, San Diego) provides an introduction to plate tectonics and edits chapters including stripes on the sea floor; how mobile is the earth?; plate tectonics: a surprising way to start a scientific career; and plate tectonics: a Martian view. The volume is illustrated with black and white photos and diagrams. The book will be of interest to a general audience interested in science and science history.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Nature
"The truly gritty, uncertain and fun nature of scientific research shines through many of these essays."
American Scientist
"These scientists reveal not only what they did and why, but how their actions connected to activity elsewhere."
Library Journal
"An important historical record."
Booklist
"(T)hese authors impart the excitement, contention, and competition of overturning accepted but erroneous science."
Kirkus
"A useful addition to the history-of-science literature, emphasizing the importance of scholarly communication and verification."
Robert Ballard, Institute for Exploration
"A must for anyone wanting to know how a revolution in science really takes place."
Frank Press, President Emeritus, United States National Academy of Sciences
"Highly recommended"
Victoria Bruce
"Oreskes has done a magnificent favor by gathering history and humanity behind one of the grandest scientific achievements."
Book Description
The definitive history of plate tectonics, told by the scientists who developed and assembled evidence for the theory. Can anyone today imagine the earth without its puzzle-piece construction of plate tectonics? The very term, "plate tectonics," coined only thirty-five years ago, is now part of the vernacular, part of everyone's understanding of the way the earth works. The theory, research, data collection, and analysis that came together in 1967 to constitute plate tectonics is one of the great scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century. Scholarly books have been written about tectonics, but none by the key scientists-players themselves. In Plate Tectonics, editor Naomi Oreskes has assembled those scientists who played key roles in developing the theory to tell - for the first time, and in their own words - the stories of their involvement in the extraordinary evolution of the theory.
About the Author
Naomi Oreskes, Ph.D. Stanford, is associate professor of history at the IGPP at the University of California at San Diego's Scripps Institute of Oceanography. She lives in Del Mar, California.
Home
