Plate Tectonics: An Insider's History Of The Modern Theory Of The Earth

Oreskes, Naomi (Editor); with Homer Le Grand

ISBN 10: 0813339812 / ISBN 13: 9780813339818

Published by Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2002

About this Item

First edition. Number line beginning with 1. Near fine plus hardback in fine dust jacket (US$35.00/CAN$52.95). Two very light if not trivial 1/16 inch bumps to lower edge of front board/cover near spine. Virtually no other signs of age/previous use to book or dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 101699

Bibliographic Details

Title: Plate Tectonics: An Insider's History Of The...

Publisher: Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press

Publication Date: 2002

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

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.The book opens with an overview of the history of plate tectonics, including in-context definitions of the key terms that are discussed throughout the book. Oreskes explains how the forerunners of the theory, Wegener and du Toit, inspired how scientists working at the key academic institutions - Cambridge and Princeton Universities, Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory, and the University of California-San Diego's Scripps Institute of Oceanography – competed and collaborated until the theory coalesced in 1967.

About the Author:

Naomi Oreskes, Ph.D. Stanford, is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego.