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  1. Home
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  3. The Continental Drift Controversy
  • Cited by 13
  • Volume 4: Evolution into Plate Tectonics
  • Henry R. Frankel, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2012
Print publication year:
2012
Online ISBN:
9781139095938
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139095938
Subjects:
Earth and Environmental Sciences, History, Earth and Environmental Science: General Interest, History of Science: General Interest
Information

Book description

The resolution of the sixty-year debate over continental drift, culminating in the triumph of plate tectonics, changed the very fabric of Earth science. This four-volume treatise on the continental drift controversy is the first complete history of the origin, debate and gradual acceptance of this revolutionary theory. Based on extensive interviews, archival papers and original works, Frankel weaves together the lives and work of the scientists involved, producing an accessible narrative for scientists and non-scientists alike. This fourth volume explains the discoveries in the mid 1960s which led to the rapid acceptance of seafloor spreading theory and how the birth of plate tectonics followed soon after with the geometrification of geology. Although plate tectonics did not explain the cause or dynamic mechanism of drifting continents, it provided a convincing kinematic explanation that continues to inspire geodynamic research to the present day.

Reviews

'What is so impressive about this monumental work is its completeness. Frankel has gone back to the original sources and papers, to ensure complete understanding of the scientific issues involved. I recommend these volumes to anyone interested in the subject.'

Dan McKenzie - University of Cambridge

'Detailed and painstakingly researched, this account is the culmination of the author's research into this topic over more than thirty years. It is difficult to imagine a more comprehensive analysis of the relevant literature and of the attitudes of the scientists involved.'

Fred Vine - Emeritus Professor, University of East Anglia

'Frankel has performed a huge and very valuable effort in pulling together not only original published sources but also unpublished correspondence from key authors, creating a timely and consistent picture of the crucial period when this revolution in the earth sciences occurred.'

Lynn R. Sykes - Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Praise for the 4-volume collection:'… an unparalleled study of remarkable depth, detail and quality of a key development in our ideas about how the Earth functions … because Frankel draws on his extensive oral historical work with the key players in the development of plate tectonics, this is a study which can never be repeated in terms of its proximity to the events narrated, so many of those key players now being deceased.'

Source: Progress in Physical Geography

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