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Introduction: writing about twentieth century geology

DAVID OLDROYD School of Science and Technology Studies, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia (e-mail: D. Oldroyd@unsw. edu. au)

In a classic paper by the late Yale historian of So we may imagine the research front of science science, Derek De Solla Price (1965), based being a multitude of partly interconnected fields, mainly on the study of citations in a single scien- each growing like the shoot or branch of a plant. tific research field, it was shown how citations in The research progress occurs at the 'tip' of each a developing research area have a strong 'shoot', and its lower part consists largely of 'immediacy effect'3 Citation was found to be at 'dead wood' - though not wholly dead as a maximum for papers about two-and-a-half occasional reference back to classical papers years old, and the 'major work of a paper... [is] continues. Obviously, the 'shoots' are loosely finished after 10 years', as judged by citations. interconnected, as references may sometimes be There were, however, some 'classic' papers that from one research field to another. continue to be cited over long periods of time, I represent some of De Solla Price's findings and review papers specifically discussing the diagrammatically in Fig. 1; and in this diagram I earlier literature. There appears to be a need for have also indicated what may be the range of such review papers after the publication of interest of historians of science. It will be seen about thirty to forty research papers in a field. that while the scientists' interest in the earlier And the knowledge is synthesized in book form literature declines quite rapidly with time the from time to time. historians' interest is focused on the earlier work De Solla Price saw citations as the means and falls off towards the present. whereby activities at the research front are It is an interesting question whether the study linked to what has gone before. He wrote: of the history of science generally, or geology in particular, is part of science. Some think it is, and [E]ach group of new papers is 'knitted' to a in some cases they are obviously right. For small select part of the existing scientific example, old data are of importance in earth- literature but connected rather weakly and quake prediction or studies of geomagnetism. randomly to a much greater part. Since only a Field mappers may use old field-slips to help small part of the earlier literature is knitted locate outcrops. Mining records are important to together by the new year's crop of papers, we economic geologists. Palaeontologists need to may look upon this small part as a sort of know the early literature to avoid problems of growing tip or epidermal layer, an active synonymy. And so on. research front. On the other hand, one could hardly claim that study of, say, the work of Arthur Holmes is He continued: advancing any modern scientific research front. Historians of science usually have other moti- The total research front has never.., been a vations than the direct advancement of science. single row of knitting. It is, instead, divided by They are interested in the past 'for its own sake', dropped stitches into quite small segments the history of ideas, correct attributions of and strips ... most of these strips corre- credit, understanding the philosophy and soci- spond[ing] to the work of, at most, a few ology of science, 'ancestor worship', and so on hundred men [sic] at any one time. and so forth. Such historical work can be called

1 In fact, the field selected by De Solla Price turned out to be an illusory one - the study of 'N-rays'. But the prac- titioners of the field were not aware at the time that they were investigating a spurious phenomenon. The field selected by Price for his analysis was well suited to his purpose as it had a clearly defined beginning; and its litera- ture 'behaved' like that of other research programmes. That it had an ignominious end was not relevant to Price's findings. It is true, however, that some fields such as palaeontology make much greater use of early literature than do others such as geochemistry. Palaeontologists and stratigraphers have to observe the principle of priority of nomenclature and so are always involved with the early literature of their fields.

From: OLDROYD,D. R. (ed.) 2002. The Earth Inside and Out: Some Major Contributions to Geology in the Twentieth Century. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 192, 1-16. 0305-8719/02/$15.00 9The Geological Society of London 2002. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

2 DAVID OLDROYD

Growth point (research science do not attend much to the very recent front) of scientific past. Such metascientific attention is the domain research programme of the reviewer or the science journalist. Studies of the history of geology were almost References to recent non-existent before the nineteenth century. scientific papers Early contributions were 'part of' science (e.g. d'Archiac 1847-1860). Even Lyell's history (Lyell 1830-1833, 1, pp. 5-74) served, for him, the polemical purpose of garnering support for Review papers his geo-philosophy. When studies of history of geology got going in a serious and professional way after the Second World War, most attention was given to the geoscience of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries (e.g. ..i Gillispie 1956; Davies 1969; Ospovat 1971; Rudwick 1972; Porter 1977; Greene 1982). Such writings were different in character from the

m earlier efforts of scientist-historians (e.g. Geikie

.[] 1897; Zittel 1901; Woodward 1908). They were not necessarily concerned chiefly with the 'inter- nal' history of science, and offered 'critical' historiography, attending in some cases to the social context of geology. It was, of course, natural that historians should attend to earlier matters first. Remote events could be viewed with 'perspective' and without treading on the toes of people still alive. The foundations had to be established first, rather than the recent superstructure. Moreover, so far Fig. 1. Representation of the growth of a scientific as the twentieth century is concerned, it is only sub-field, specialty, or research programme, based on the scientometric study of D. J. De Solla Price (1965), just completed, so we can hardly expect to see representing also the respective temporal interests of much in the way of general synthetic overviews scientists and historians of science. of twentieth century geology at the present junc- ture. Nevertheless, much more geology has been done in the twentieth century than in the whole of previous human history, and the task of trying to form an overview of it cannot be delayed long. 'metascientific'. It is different from what moti- So while the task of studying twentieth-century vates scientists, as working scientists, to study geology cannot be completed here and now, it the earlier stages of their fields of inquiry - to can at least be started - or contributions made further the technical progress of science. towards future syntheses. If we regard the study of the history of science If we look for generalizations, we immediately as a 'metascientific' activity, then it too has some remark the development of specialization, with of the characteristics of a scientific research pro- the division of science into research pro- gramme, as described by De Solla Price. But grammes, such as those perceived by De Solla there are differences. The 'knitting' of, say, the Price. Such specialization, accompanied by a history of geology literature into past work, via growing divide between the humanities and the citations, tends to be more diffuse than is the case sciences, has long been deplored, at least from for scientific research programmes - though in the 1950s, when C. P. Snow's essay on the 'two some areas of the history of science (e.g. the cultures' (Snow 1964) caused heads to shake in study of Darwin or Lyell) there is a discernible disapproval, and remedies for the supposed 'research programme' with a developing problem were sought - including the study of the research front not unlike that of a programme in history of science by students of the humanities. science. In addition, if they are interested in The philosopher Nicholas Maxwell (1980) recent science, historians of science have to scru- deplored the supposed departure from en- tinize a target that does not remain fixed, as do lightenment arising from specialization. the laws of the physical world, but expands indef- However, in one of the best books that I know initely through time. However, most historians of on the sociology of science, the geologist and Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

INTRODUCTION 3 oceanographer Henry William Menard (1971) Leaving aside such questions of career tactics, argued that the pressure towards specialization it can be seen that pressure towards specializa- is irresistible. Influenced by De Solla Price tion is intense, the concerns of the likes of (1961, 1963), he likened the development of Maxwell or Snow notwithstanding. By way of science to that of a bean sprout, which eventu- illustration, we see the field of ammonite studies ally, however, inevitably loses growth and in decline in the latter part of the twentieth withers. The growth of science is like that of century; and one of the authors of the papers in water lilies on a pool of finite size, following the the present volume decided to leave it to all pattern of the S-shaped 'logistic curve'. But this intents and purposes, to become an authority on applies to specialisms or research programmes the history of geology, particularly in the early rather than science as a whole, which keeps nineteenth century. Such a career response is one 'alive' by constant divisions into new special- way for a person to respond to changing circum- isms. Why does this specialization occur? stances. The commoner response is to seek to The 'explosive' nature of the growth of scien- become an administrator, university teacher (as tific literature is well known, and science itself opposed to researcher), or go in for university has ways to try to cope with the problem, politics. Becoming an historian seems to me a through the production of review papers, bibli- more attractive proposition - though one may be ographies, and text-books (and perhaps ulti- hard pressed to find the necessary funding! mately retrospective histories), and the storage Be that as it may, we should note that Menard of data in computers as well as libraries. How do regarded geology as somewhat moribund in the people keep on top of it all? The answer, for first half of the twentieth century. It had, so to most, is through specialization. There are new speak, run out of puff: it was, as a whole, becom- 'hot' fields, and old ones with slowing growth ing a 'mature' or even 'elderly' science. During that are becoming ossified almost by virtue of the nineteenth century (as, for example, was the their age and size. Menard considers the case of case in the State Surveys in the US), it had been a new field. There may only be a handful of a rapidly expanding enterprize, with rather few people in it, and a young person can get a handle bureaucratic accessories. There was a large and on its literature relatively easily and advance to successful research programme, based on a position of influence when young. By contrast, primary or reconnaissance surveys. But such for a person joining an old field it may take years work was limited to the Earth's surface rocks. to gain a commanding position, and all the 'pos- There was little technology to explore within the itions and perquisites of academic, professional, Earth by geophysical methods, or (obviously) and economic power are out of his [sic] reach for from without by aerial survey or space travel. 20 to 40 years' (Menard 1971, p. 18). Further, much of the Earth was covered by Menard estimates that a person entering a oceans and inaccessible. Conditions within the really new field might become 'au courant' with Earth could not be simulated in the laboratory. its literature in perhaps two months. For an In addition, the overarching framework of geo- 'average' field it might take three years. But logical theory was (as it now appears) unsatis- someone entering a mature field might be faced factory in important respects. It embraced with a literature of nearly 30,000 items! The vertical movements as the prime type (though newcomer may be near retirement before he or Charles Lapworth had demonstrated the she has a grip on the literature. In any case, pos- importance of lateral movements in the NW itions in an old field are very likely filled, keeping Highlands of Scotland; earlier, geologists in out new aspirants. Or, if the field is declining, Switzerland such as Albert Heim had done like- vacancies that may occur are not filled by people wise with the idea of nappes; and in America in that field but by neighbouring predators. The James Hall and the brothers Henry and William trick, then, is to get into a new field, but not one Rogers had envisaged significant lateral that is a bad risk because of shaky foundations. movements). Besides, geological research was Menard recommends that the optimum time to seriously impeded by the two world wars, enter a field is at about its third period of though geologists contributed their services to doubling. Then the risks are at a minimum and both (Underwood & Guth 1998; Rose & opportunities at their maximum. However, if Nathanail 2000). In Britain, an ill-advised re- one has invested a lifetime's work in a research organization of science education before the programme or in working according to some First World War tended to separate geology paradigm, and if one has, despite the problems from biology, physics, and chemistry at the of old research fields, made a successful career secondary level. The subject was not taught at therein, then one may be exceedingly disinclined elementary schools, and at university it was not to abandon it and try something new. seen as a relevant study for engineering Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

4 DAVID OLDROYD students. According to Percy Boswell, in a Presi- universities, departments were re-organized, dential Address to the Geological Society, 'while involving fusion with, or incorporation of, our science was suffering these reverses, the studies in geophysics, and they were re-named as Geological Society stood magnificently and schools of 'Earth Science', or similar. In Aus- gerontically aloof' (Boswell 1941, p. xli) I tralia, the changes occurred at about the same Menard distinguished fields of science that are time as a notable expansion of prospecting and in a steady state or decline, in transition, or in a mining, and there was a 'boom' in geology as state of real (perhaps super-exponential) well as in mining shares. I am not sure whether growth. In the last case, the literature may that boom was linked to the plate tectonics double in as little as five years. Under such revolution, but certainly geology began to be circumstances, papers are brief and published seen as an intellectually exciting, and (perhaps rapidly. Often communication by word of mouth better) a lucrative field. There was a rush of or by pre-prints (or now by e-mail) is more students into the earth sciences, in parallel with important than by journal communication. The the famous Poseidon Company (nickel) stock- literature of 'hot' fields is not burdened with market bubble. This story had an unhappy reviews, and citations are rather few in number. ending. The nickel market crashed and many The field's practioners do not concern them- geologists fell out of work or graduates failed to selves unduly with bureaucratic or stylistic find jobs in the field in which they had trained. niceties. Bibliographic work is put aside. By con- Thus the linkage of geology with the capitalist trast, in old fields many practitioners may have system may be remarked, though such links been diverted into administrative functions. were nothing new in applied geology. Publication delays are considerable. The litera- While important parts of geology became ture has copious bibliographies, and arcane ter- inextricably linked with physics, partly as a minological distinctions are devised, as, for result of the plate tectonics revolution, it also example, in Marshall Kay's baroque taxonomy became entwined in the latter part of the twen- for different kinds of geosynclines (Kay 1963). tieth century with space science and aeronomy, In severe cases, papers spend more time dis- so that we now find congresses in which the par- cussing other papers than the subject matter of ticipants are partly earth scientists (seismolo- the fields. (Such a state of affairs is found hyper- gists, geomagneticians, tectonics specialists, etc.) developed in Classics, which has rather little new and partly space scientists and space engineers empirical nutriment.) (IAGA-IASPEI 2001), or even astronomers. As is well known, geological sciences as a The study of the Earth is now enriched by whole became re-invigorated in the 1960s and investigations of the Moon and planets. Geo- '70s through the plate tectonics revolution. This magnetic studies (so important in the plate tec- came about through the application of new tech- tonics revolution) are linked to investigations of nical methods (such as the use of computers in the Sun, the ionosphere, etc. Studies of move- geology) and the partial fusion of two previously ments of faults and plates are facilitated by the distinct fields: geology and oceanography. Sub- use of new techniques such as GPS, themselves mersibles and aeroplanes became useful tools in made possible only by the work of artificial satel- the progress of geology, complementing the lite engineers. Well before the end of the twenti- hammer, microscope, field survey instruments, eth century, one of the leading journals for etc. One might say, with Darwin: '[h]ere then I geologists was Earth and Planetary Science [or, in the case now under discussion, geologists Letters. On the other hand, it should be empha- as a whole] had at last got a theory by which to sized that the effect of plate tectonic theory on work' (Darwin F. 1887,1, p. 83). Several authors the day-to-day activities of many geologists, par- (e.g. Hallam 1973) have, appropriately I think, ticularly applied geologists, was often quite seen the revolution as 'Kuhnian' in character (cf. small. Kuhn 1962), which implies in a way - at least In any case, much had gone on before the according to the earlier exposition of Kuhn's plate tectonics revolution actually occurred, views - a revolution in 'world-view'. In this case, both in theory and in technological develop- it entailed a shift from seeing tectonic move- ment. Alfred Wegener (1915) and Alexander ments of the Earth's crust as primarily vertical to Du Toit (1937) had long before found much geo- lateral also. (Of course, the movement of plumes logical evidence for 'drift'. Arthur Holmes - part of modern tectonic theory - is essentially (1929) had upheld the idea of convection in the vertical.) Earth's interior to account for 'drift'. Felix The transformation in theory associated with Vening Meinesz (1929 and other publications) the plate tectonics revolution also led to signifi- had undertaken a series of underwater gravi- cant changes in geology as a discipline. In many metric investigations aboard a US submarine. 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INTRODUCTION 5

But mobilist theory was not generally accepted, geology was indeed in the doldrums before the meeting opposition in both dominant post-war plate tectonics revolution. Senior geologists were powers: the US and the USSR. The reasons for overly committed to an old paradigm and found the tardy acceptance of mobilist doctrine have it difficult to change their opinions. In the context been analyzed by Robert Muir Wood (1985) and of the 1960s, with the US as the dominant power Naomi Oreskes (1999). in the West, it was unlikely that there could be a Muir Wood suggests that Soviet scientists' scientific revolution in geology unless the North opposition to new ideas was due to the con- Americans joined the revolutionaries. This they servative nature of society and the scientific eventually did, with the work of J. Tuzo Wilson community in the USSR, and the fact that Soviet and the classic paper of Isacks, Oliver & Sykes scientists worked on a huge continental mass, (1968), in which it was shown, by seismological had limited contacts with Western scientists, and evidence, that there was movement along the lacked the oceanographic data available to the fault planes postulated by theorists such as Americans. Oreskes argues that American Wilson (1965a, b). But the transition was not opposition arose from several factors. First, easy. American geology in the first half of the twenti- The literature on the history of plate tectonics eth century had a certain style, exemplified by revolution is substantial, even if that on twenti- the grand collaborative effort of the US Coast eth century geology as a whole is sparse. Besides and Geodetic Survey, begun in the nineteenth the volumes by Hallam, Muir Wood, and century, to determine the form of the geoid. For Oreskes, one should mention particularly the simpler calculation, this work assumed the Pratt earlier 'straight' account by Marvin (1973) and (as opposed to the Airy) model for isostasy. A the later one by Le Grand (1988), which inter- uniform global depth of isostatic compensation prets the revolution in terms of the ideas of was assumed, and it appeared that the crust and philosopher of science Larry Laudan rather than mantle were generally in a state of isostatic equi- those of Kuhn. Henry Frankel (1978, 1979), by librium. Lateral movements, insofar as they contrast, has seen the revolution through the occurred, were thought to be relatively small- eyes of the philosopher of science Imre Lakatos scale, occurring in response to erosion of moun- (which addresses the idea of competing research tains and deposition of sediments in the oceans. programmes, either 'progressive' or 'degenerat- The thinking was in accord with long-standing ing') than through those of Kuhn. For the American ideas about the permanence of oceans oceanographical aspects, see Menard (1986) and and continental cratons, derived particularly Hsti (1992); and for the seismological aspects, from the work of James Dwight Dana. Ameri- see Oliver (1996). Geomagnetic issues are cans such as Charles Schuchert and Bailey Willis admirably treated by Glen (1982). attempted to account for faunal similarities Away from the plate tectonics revolution, across oceans by postulating various 'isthmian there are biographies of a few notable indi- links'. viduals, such as Alfred Wegener (Schwarzbach Second, there was the American delight in T. 1986; Milanovsky 2000), Johannes Walther C. Chamberlin's (1897) 'method of multiple (Seibold 1992), and Arthur Holmes (Lewis working hypotheses'. This was supposed to 2000); and in connection with work on the study guard geologists against the uncritical adherence of the age of the Earth, and radiometric dating to grand theoretical systems, but in practice, more generally, the volume of Dalrymple (1991) according to Oreskes, it led to the overzealous holds the field. There are useful collections of collection of 'facts'. For William Bowie, the chief classic papers from the first half of the century spokesperson on matters to do with isostasy, iso- edited by Mather (1967) and Cloud (1970). A set static adjustment and balance was a 'fact', of essays on the history of sedimentology (Gins- whereas continental drift was an 'interesting burg 1973) is interesting for an essay by Roger hypothesis'. Also, according to Oreskes, Lyel- Walker (1973), which proposes that the coming lian uniformitarianism impeded acceptance of of the idea of turbidity currents (Kuenen & 'drift' theory. Schuchert believed that know- Migliorini 1950) constituted a scientific revol- ledge of present faunal distributions could not ution of Kuhnian dimensions in sedimentology. be applied to the past if there had been latitudi- A volume by Peter Westbroek (1991) takes one nal changes in the positions of continents. It in the direction of the 'Gala hypothesis', dis- seemed to him that were this so, the present cussing, as the title Life as a Geological Force would no longer be the key to the past. suggests, ways in which living organisms are Such geological arguments may seem implaus- involved in geological processes. It also contains ible, but the fact that they attracted favour can material of an historical nature, such as dis- perhaps be explained by the hypothesis that cussion of Robert Garrels' ideas on the cycling of Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

6 DAVID OLDROYD elements through the oceans, atmosphere, and Followers in the two traditions were, suggests lithosphere. A related topic - controversial over Seng6r (1982, 1991): many years - has been that of eustasy, which takes one into the domain of sequence stratigra- Wegener-Argand Kober-Stille phy. A collection of papers edited by Robert ('mobilism') (episodic, world-wide Dott (1992) gives much useful detail, and orogenies) includes an essay by one of the main protagonists du Toit Haug in the eustasy debate, Peter Vail. There are Daly Willis various institutional histories (e.g., Eckel 1982; Holmes Schuchert Bachl-Hofmann et aL 1999), but not much 'criti- Salomon-Calvi Bucher cal history' in this area. A two-volume encyclo- Staub Haarmann pedia edited by Gregory Good (1998) contains Griggs van Bemmelen interesting essays on twentieth century geology. Ketin Hans Cloos One of the oldest geological topics has been [Wilson] Kay the problem of the causes of the formation of Tatyayev mountains and ocean basins, and interest in the Beloussov issue has been sustained through the twentieth century. Few have made a concerted effort to view the wood, as distinct from all the trees in ~eng6r sees the members of the the literature. However, in a collection of papers Wegener-Argand school as tending to recognize on geological controversies, mostly on sedi- irregularities in Nature and as being in accord mentological topics (MOiler et al. 1991), the with the falsificationist philosophy of science of Turkish geologist and historian of geology Cel~l Karl Popper - of which he strongly approves. By ~eng6r (1991) gives one of his several accounts contrast, he regards the members of the of his interpretation of the 'taxonomy' of the Kober-Stille school as tending to look for and history of tectonic theories. He proposes a see regularities, both geometrical and temporal, general model for the history of tectonics, there in Nature. These two ways of looking at, or being, he suggests, two different tectonic Leit- thinking about, the world can be seen in the bilder (e.g., ~eng6r 1982, 1999). He drew the ancient atomists and in the Artistotelians. notion of Leitbilder from Wegmann (1958). I am not aware that many have adopted Seng6r's 'Manichean' dichotomy of tectonic ~eng6r's schema, one obvious reason being that theorists proposes that two broad ways of think- today hardly anyone (or no anglophone) has the ing were established as far back as the eight- necessary knowledge of the early Continental eenth century (in the ideas of Hutton and and Russian tectonic literature to be able to Werner) and, in a sense, have been ongoing ever evaluate his dichotomy satisfactorily. (Of since. He further traces the philosophical (but course, even if one accepts Seng6r's dichotomy obviously not the geological or tectonic) roots of of tectonic theorists one need not agree with his the eighteenth century thinking back to the parallel division along methodological and atomists and Aristotelians in Antiquity. In the metaphysical approaches or attitudes; and some nineteenth century, the two modes of interpre- may doubt that Lyell and Wegener should be tation were, he suggests, manifest in uniformi- situated in the same geological tradition.) Be tarian and catastrophist geologies respectively. this as it may, it is evident that Seng6r offers a ~eng6r (1991, p. 417) lays out his dichotomy as view of the history of twentieth century tectonics summarized in Table 1. quite different from the 'before and after the plate tectonics revolution' account of most Table 1. Classification of tectonic theorists, according English language texts. It proposes a flesh to A. M. C ~engOr pattern, to make sense of the 'bloomin-buzzin- Atomists (e.g. Democritus) Aristotle confusion' of the tectonics literature. It is prob- ably not a pattern that professional historians of Hutton Werner ideas would find attractive, but it is undoubtedly an interesting schema; and to my knowledge no Lyell Cuvier other author has tried to identify the common t~lie de Beaumont factors in the tectonic theories that have been Suess Dana proposed over the years. Seng6r sees conceptual Chamberlin continuity, and Popperian piecemeal change, in Wegener Kober the history of tectonics. By contrast, the Argand Stille Kuhnian 'anglophone' theorists such as Hallam have seen conceptual discontinuities. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

INTRODUCTION 7

It should be noted that ~eng6r's modern theory is metaphysically or methodologically theoretical work is typically grounded in all the sound. early literature relevant to his given theme. The The history of the shift of opinion on the ques- same was true of the French geologist and his- tion of neo-catastrophism has been complex in torian of geology, Franqois Ellenberger that it has involved different fields in geology (1915-2000), but such levels of scholarship are (stratigraphy, palaeontology, geochemistry, becoming rarer. A recent study by ~eng6r (1998 planetary geology, mineralogy, etc.) with, for 1996) traces the lengthy history of the broadly speaking, a debate between geologists concept of the Tethys Ocean (a topic he was chiefly involved with the life sciences and those worrying about in the middle of the night when associated more with the physical sciences. he was about ten!). William Glen (1994) has edited an interesting If tectonics is a major theme in, or branch of, collection, the papers of which examined the geology, so too is petrology, but to date little has dynamics of the debate while still in progress - been written on the history of twentieth century before the battle was over and one could see petrology, experimental or otherwise. Davis who had 'won'. Since the publication of that Young (1998) has written a biography of the book, the conflict seems to have shifted in favour petrologist Norman Bowen, and Young's paper of the 'catastrophists', and recently, a neo- in the present collection is in a sense a digest of catastrophist, Charles Frankel (1999), has that book. Sergei Tomkeieff's (1983) posthum- argued that the major subdivisions of the Ceno- ous Dictionary of Petrology contains valuable zoic can all be matched with impacts, the terminological information, with copious refer- 'smoking gun' for the K-T boundary being ences to the early literature, and an older found at the Chicxulub Crater, by the edge of the volume by Loewinson-Lessing (1954) is still Yucat~in Peninsula, Mexico (as others had useful. Yoder (1993) has published a set of earlier suggested). The arguments of some 'annals' of petrology, which provides a chrono- stratigraphers and palaeontologists that the logical framework for a synthetic study of great change of flora and fauna at the end of the twentieth century igneous and metamorphic Cretaceous, including the demise of ammonites petrology. Such a volume will probably first and dinosaurs, does not coincide in time with the appear from Davis Young's hand. layer of iridium-enriched sediment, thought by While the plate tectonics revolution stands the bolide theorists to have been caused by some out in most people's minds when thinking about catastrophic impact, seems to have less appeal - the history of twentieth century geology, the re- at least to the public imagination - than the emergence of 'catastrophism' has also been a notion of an apocalyptic termination of the noteworth phenomenon. It has chiefly taken the Cretaceous. form of the theory - put forward with increasing It is interesting that the nineteenth century confidence in the last quarter of the twentieth (Cuvierian) catastrophists were looking to some century - that impacts from extra-terrestrial such event to explain the discontinuities in the bodies (bolides) have had a substantial influence stratigraphic record; and it was discontinuities in on the Earth's geological history, especially in the fossil record that made the establishment of the realms of stratigraphy, palaeoclimatology, stratigraphy by William Smith, Alcide d'Or- and evolutionary palaeontology (see e.g., bigny, Albert Oppel, and the like, possible. It is, Albritton 1989; Huggett 1989; Clube & Napier therefore, a little ironic that, in the twentieth 1990). It has been an uphill task for 'bolide century, it has been chiefly biostratigraphers theorists' in that the very notion of extra- who have opposed the idea of extra-terrestrial terrestrial contacts and attendant catastrophes impacts being responsible for fundamental fea- smacks of nineteenth century 'catastrophism', or tures of the stratigraphic column. Be this as it even earlier 'theories of the Earth' such as those may, the controversy is by no means over at the of Buffon or Whiston. It runs counter to what beginning of the twenty-first century. For geologists have long been taught: uniformitari- example, one of the contributors to the present anism and the virtue of the methodological prin- collection has recently co-authored a paper that ciple that 'the present is the key to the past'. So argues with considerable cogency that the case 'neo-catastrophism' has perhaps had an even for the Chicxulub event being responsible for more complex history than that to do with the the demise of the dinosaurs and other extinction plate tectonics revolution in that there has been events at about the end of the Cretaceous is any- no swift and successful 'coup' or scientific revol- thing but conclusive (Sarjeant & Currie 2001). It ution, but a long-drawn-out series of battles. Its is, for example, not a little startling to read of the proponents have had to produce and justify the discovery of seemingly unreworked dinosaur empirical evidence, and also show that their egg remains (ornithoid theropod types) above Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

8 DAVID OLDROYD the famous iridium horizon (Bajpai & Prasad good deal of material on environmental issues 2000). It is not claimed that these fossils are and space science. For example, the publication Palaeocene, but it is suggested that the iridium of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) is seen as layer does not mark the top of the Cretaceous a milestone- along with Harry Hess's 'History of (at least in India). It may well be some time, ocean basins' (Hess 1962). The authors' 'annals' therefore, before Glen will be able to write a of twentieth century earth science thus refer to book recounting the closure of this controversy. issues traditionally categorized under the heads The controversy may, in fact, eventually be of geographic exploration (including satellite resolved by some sort of compromise. Sarjeant imaging), meteorology, environmental science, and Currie certainly do not contest the occur- 'conservation' (such as the Rio summit of 1992), rence of the Chicxulub impact event. aeronomy, space science, etc. From what has been said above, it will be Young & Carruthers' (2001) headings for the evident that any attempt to provide a synthetic major branches of modern earth science are overview of the history of twentieth century therefore interesting 9They offer: geology, as Zittel provided a summation of the geological endeavours of the nineteenth Understanding Earth's materials century, is at present premature. The story is Earth's deep interior infinitely more complex than that for the nine- Geological time teenth century. The chapter of the twentieth Chemistry of Earth's near surface century is only recently closed. Historians have Climate and global warming not yet done the necessary analysis, which Life on Earth should precede the synthesis. A recent publi- Plate tectonics cation by Edward Young & Margaret Car- Beyond plate tectonics ruthers (2001) is interesting, however, in that it Hazard assessment provides a kind of 'annals' or preliminary Remote sensing chronology of twentieth century geology - a Planetary geology 'year-by-year account of important advances since 1900'. The authors mention a deep 'crisis of These heads may strike the reader as some- identity' among those who study the Earth and what whimsical, failing to cover the field ade- the rocky bodies of the solar system. Even quately, or cutting the cake of geoscience departmental names are 'doubtful'. The authors inappropriately. They are, nonetheless, sugges- suggest that:' [i]n some quarters.., the activities tive, and show the way the wind has begun to of scientists studying the Earth can no longer be blow at the beginning of the twenty-first century. described as belonging to a single discipline, and A register at the beginning of the twentieth

9 just as it is rare to find the life sciences under century would surely have included stratigraphy a single roof in most universities today, so too or palaeontology as separate items. In the will go the earth sciences'. middle of the century, we would expected to see It is too soon to say whether the field of petrology, structural geology, and sedimen- geology or earth sciences will eventually dis- tology in such a list. Now at the turn of the new appear as such, but it is true that it has been century we remark the interest in the Earth, troubled, after the rush of adrenalin in the 1970s, both 'inside and out'. To that extent, at least, the by declining student interest, in some parts of the present collection of essays has common cause world at least 9For example, in New South Wales, with the overview of twentieth century earth the decline in secondary-student enrolments in science sketched by Young & Curruthers. So far geology was so great that it appeared at one stage as I am concerned, it's not clear how geology that the subject would vanish from the Higher could or would be geology if it were bereft of School Certificate curriculum. The response was, biostratigraphy. But perhaps that is to be the in a sense, to 'disguise' geology in the clothing of 'shape of things to come'. ~ 'environmental science'. This change was imple- When planning the Rio symposium we mented in the late 1990s, and it is too soon at decided not to devote excessive attention to the present to know whether it will prove effective in history of plate tectonics. Despite the fact that the long term from the point of view of those the emergence of that theory has been the most interested in the well-being of geology or the important theoretical development in twentieth earth sciences, but I understand that enrolments century geoscience (or at least it caused the have picked up. Clearly, students have been greatest excitement in the earth science com- looking for a more 'holistic' approach to geo- munity), it has already been the object of sub- science, and it is interesting therefore that in their stantial historical investigations, some of which 'annals' Young & Carruthers (2001) include a are mentioned above. Nevertheless, the topic Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

INTRODUCTION 9 was unavoidable. So in the present collection we cences be captured for posterity. Le Grand, of find that the papers by Lewis, Le Grand, Khain course, has been an observer of events, rather & Ryabukhin, and Barton deal with the question than a participant. to a greater or lesser extent; and it appears in The same may be said of the historian Cathy some of the other papers too. Barton. Her paper is partly based on interviews Khain & Ryabukhin's paper should be of with Marie Tharp, well known for her contri- special interest. There has, I suggest, been a per- butions to the mapping of the ocean floors - a ception in 'the West', reinforced by Muir Wood's necessary empirical first step towards the plate (1985) stimulating book, that Russian geology tectonics revolution. There is currently con- was reluctant to embrace plate tectonics. It is siderable interest in the part played by women in true that Russian geology adopted plate tec- science, and it is sometimes said that women tonics somewhat later than in the West, and one have had a hard time in 'getting on' in geology. of her most influential geologists, Vladimir Barton's paper shows that Tharp was not much Beloussov, was antagonistic towards the theory, hindered because of her gender; but she had the at least initially. However, Beloussov's opposi- advantage of working at a time when there were tion was not just 'perverse' or 'political'. His vacancies in civilian science due to the Second views were based on ideas developed by Nikolay World War; and she also had Bruce Heezen's Shatsky, based on seismic evidence for deep patronage. Interestingly, though Heezen and faults, apparently crossing the crust and upper Tharp's work (or that like it) was, I think, neces- mantle. In fact, as Khain and Ryabukhin reveal, sary for the emergence of plate tectonics, it was there was intense discussion at Moscow State not sufficient, for they adopted the now-rejected University, with, in effect, two contradictory expanding-Earth theory. 2 Barton suggests that theories being taught in the same institution. they were the geological equivalents of Tycho Khain was one of the main protagonists and Brahe in the Copernican Revolution. They pro- actively promoted plate tectonic theory. vided essential empirical information, but for The tectonics theorist Khain is, of course, them it led to what is (according to the present writing about the events of the 1970s from the consensus) an erroneous theory. perspective of the 'winning' side; and it might be Cherry Lewis, known among geologists for said that, having lived longest, he now has the her work on fission-track estimates of the 'lost opportunity to write the history the way it overburden' of some of the older rocks in appeared to him. Be this as may, there was evi- Britain, has for some time been studying the dently no monolithic anti-mobilist theory in work of Arthur Holmes, on whom she has pub- Russia in the 1970s, and by the end of that lished a biography (Lewis 2000). Lewis's paper decade immense efforts were being made to raises the problem of the age of the Earth, which apply plate tectonics within the Russian was for many years a major issue in geology and domains, as is evident, for example, from the beyond, but was eventually solved in principle arduous work undertaken in the Urals (Zonen- by Holmes, regarded by some as the outstanding shain et al. 1984). Incidentally, it may be men- geologist of the twentieth century. He was also tioned that geological theory at Moscow State one of those who accepted mobilist doctrines University remains 'un-monolithic' to this day, well before the plate tectonics revolution as I understand, with some classes teaching proper, and he advocated (but did not originate) expanding (or pulsating)-Earth theory, while the the idea of a convectional mechanism for conti- majority offer standard plate tectonic doctrine. nental movement that still stands in essence. The Russian paper also refers to some theoreti- Readers picking up this book will immediately cal notions not well known in the West. notice its famous cover illustration, and the title. Some of the contributors to the present Two of the papers (those of Good and Marvin) volume are scientists interested in the history of deal respectively with the Earth's interior and geology; some are historians of geology. Homer with entities external to the Earth. Thus we are Le Grand is one of the latter. His paper utilizes taken into the realms of geophysics and astron- oral history, providing some reminiscences omy - where geology overlaps with physics and about the extension of plate tectonic theory to with planetary science (or even cosmology). 'terrane theory'. It is well that such reminis- Ursula Marvin, geologist, meteoritics expert,

2 But Ursula Marvin (pers. comm., 25 Sept. 2001) informs me that she heard Heezen say at a meeting in 1966 that some calculations he had made suggested that the Earth expansion required just to account for the opening of the Atlantic was unreasonably large. Heezen is generally regarded as an 'expansionist' but the matter perhaps deserves closer historical scrutiny. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

10 DAVID OLDROYD and authority on the history of meteoritics, takes properties. The early work developed from the the reader into the world of outer space and many observations of its magnetic field that go what it can tell us about the geology of our back to the beginnings of geomagnetic investi- Earth. As discussed above, one of the main gation. By the first half of the twentieth century, trends in twentieth century earth science has the subject had progressed well beyond Bacon- been the extent to which it has been integrated ian (or Humboldtian) data-collecting, and with planetary science (and aeronomy). attempts were made to develop theories about Marvin's paper is a perhaps unlikely, but also a the causes of the existence of, and changes in, good, place to start this collection of essays. the Earth's magnetic field. This work, Good Meteorites provide some of the most useful argues, lay within the domain of 'terrestrial mag- empirical evidence we have about ways in which netism'. It was related to problems in navigation, the Earth may have formed. Also, the study of for example, rather than geological theories per craters on the Moon and elsewhere has thrown se. But as time passed, more information light on terrestrial impacts, and their possible became available about the Earth's interior and role in the history of life on Earth, which, as it became possible to produce theories about the mentioned above, has been hotly debated over origin of the Earth's field and its changes. After the last twenty years or so by 'astrogeologists' palaeomagnetic studies' substantial contri- and traditional palaeontologists and stratigra- butions to the plate tectonics revolution, much phers (see e.g. the paper by Torrens in this attention is now bestowed on palaeomagnetics, volume). as geologists seek evidence about former pos- Marvin takes us through the story of the itions of the poles in reconstructing the geo- efforts to find meteorites and discover whence logical histories of different parts of the Earth (a they came, particularly those that seem to have matter also intimately related to terrane theory). come from the Moon and from Mars. I was par- Good argues that the very nature of geomagnet- ticularly struck by two points she made in her ics has changed; and he holds that the view of Rio paper. She remarked that the 'vision' of our earlier work has become distorted because it is Earth, seen from space and depicted on the seen through the lens of the later. cover of this book, had a substantial impact on The paper by Richard Itowarth, is authored the way we now think about the Earth; and the by someone who assisted in the development of 'vision' did wonders for the 'holistic' environ- the use of the computer in geological studies. He mentalist movement. This is the planet where we has also made much use of statistical analyses for live, which we can now 'see' as a whole from the the purpose of geological research. It might not outside; and this is where we shall likely perish be obvious that there is a coherent field of as a species if we do not act sensibly as its stew- 'mathematical geology', but in this paper and in ards. Marvin also observed that the summary his other historical publications Howarth has geological time-chart, which delegates received demonstrated the coherence of the field as a in their conference-bags at Rio (REPSOL: YPF branch of geology appropriate to historical 2000), listed the lunar names for the epochs of investigation (e.g. Howarth 1999). He has also the Hadean Period (Cryptic, Basin Groups 1-9, been much interested in the use of figures such Nectarian, and Early Imbrian) obtained by as 'rose diagrams' or stereograms in geological mapping of the Moon, which preserves a strati- analysis, and for understanding geological ideas graphic record that is keyed to dated samples and making them comprehensible to others (cf. reaching back to that time. Direct stratigraphic Rudwick 1976). Such representations did not evidence on Earth for those remote times has begin ex nihilo in the twentieth century, though long since been lost, so insofar as we have a they are characteristic of the work of that period. 'stratigraphy' for the very early Earth it is As mentioned, there has long been a dearth of inferred from entities outside our planet. studies in the history of petrology, perhaps the Incidentally, though the present collection most basic of the geosciences, yet neglected by does not have a paper specifically devoted to the historians of science, especially for the twentieth question of bolide impacts and their implications century. For this reason I am gratified that the for Earth history, Marvin addresses some present collection contains four petrological aspects of the question, even though she does papers. The field is, of course, enormous, and we not discuss it in detail. (It was treated by her in a cannot expect an author to cover the whole in a previous Special Publication: Marvin 1999). paper such as might fit into the present collec- The historian of geology, Gregory Good, tion. In the contribution of Eugen and (his wife) takes us inside the Earth. He is interested in the Ilse Seibold we are provided with a straight- changes that have taken place through the twen- forward survey of twentieth century sedimento- tieth century in studies of the Earth's magnetic logical writings, extending into sedimentary Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

INTRODUCTION 11 petrology. It identifies the main themes in the should serve as a starting-point for all future field, and provides an entree to its vast literature. studies. Like several other essays in the present It will be particularly useful in that, written by collection, the authors have found it necessary to German authors, it is not focused on English- trace the roots of twentieth century debates in language writings (this may well become appro- earlier ways of thinking - in this case even back priate for the twenty-first century, but it is not so to the eighteenth century. They also travel as far for the twentieth century), but discusses English, afield as the work of Miyashiro in Japan. Regret- French, German, and Russian publications. I am fully, this is the only paper in the collection that particularly grateful to Professor Eugen Seibold attends to ideas developed in the Far East. for completing this work in a year when he had Studies of metamorphic petrology are nat- to undergo an eye operation. He has been Presi- urally associated with Scandinavian geology, for dent of the International Union of Geological metamorphic rocks are particularly well Sciences and participated in voyages undertaken exposed in the Baltic Shield, where they have led for the purpose of ocean-floor surveys. Ilse to new ideas about their production. In the essay Seibold is a foraminifera specialist and author of by the historian of geosciences, Bernhard a book on Johannes Walther (1992). Fritseher, we look more closely at one of the As to igneous petrology, one of the most Scandinavians mentioned in the Touret and important topics for the twentieth century has Nijland paper: Victor Goldschmidt. He was a been the problem of understanding the changes petrologist but is chiefly associated with geo- that occur during magma crystallization. chemistry, being one of that discipline's Amongst those who worked on this topic, one of founders, especially through his Geochemistry the most important figures was Norman Bowen. (Goldschmidt 1958). He also listed the abun- He came from the research institution where dances of elements in the solar system, on the arguably the most important work in experi- basis of analyses of meteorites. So he too was mental petrology was done, at least in the first interested in the Earth 'inside and out'. Here, half of the twentieth century: the Geophysical however, Fritscher focuses on the application of Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, the phase-rule to petrology, and debates about Washington. The petrologist and historian of the development of petrology based on funda- petrology Davis Young argues that this particu- mental chemical principles - as opposed to the lar institution provided the ideal framework for approach via fieldwork and the study of thin- Bowen's work in igneous petrology, most of it sections favoured by British petrologists like experimentally based, utilizing the apparatus for Alfred Harker. Fritscher sees important differ- the study of rocks and rock melts at high tem- ences between British and Continental workers peratures and pressures available at the geo- and offers some socio-political explanation for physical laboratory. The issue of what happens the differences. when melts cool and differentiate is funda- One of the points made en passant by Touret mental to igneous petrology. For Bowen, it was and Nijland is that they find metamorphic essentially a laboratory problem, but his work petrology in decline (at least in The Nether- led to fundamental progress in the understand- lands, admittedly a country lacking metamor- ing of rocks as they are present in the field, as phic rocks), with posts in the field disappearing, discussed, for example, in the classic work of whereas it was formerly a leading area of Wager & Brown (1968). research. This decline - matched in their country Eventually Bowen's work (in conjunction in some other fields such as mineralogy - may with Orville Frank Tuttle) led to a resolution of reflect changes in public concerns, such as a one of the great debates of twentieth century heightened awareness of environmental prob- geology: the battle between the 'migmatists' and lems or dislike of fields regarded as being associ- the 'magmatists' regarding the origin of granite, ated with mining and mineral exploration. It Tuttle & Bowen (1958) declaring in favour of the meshes with the broad shifts in emphasis in the latter (see Read 1957). Consideration of this second half of the twentieth century that were topic leads us into the intricacies of metamor- discussed above, but, I suggest, the current con- phic petrology, discussed by Jacques Touret and traction of the field in some parts of the world Timo Nijland. The authors have undertaken the should not be taken to imply that metamorphic massive task of 'picking the eyes' out of twenti- petrology is shrinking for want of interesting and eth century metamorphic petrology, to which important problems. Indeed, new instruments field they have themselves contributed, having used in well-funded institutions such as Edin- worked together in Scandinavia. The history of burgh University are being used for exciting metamorphic geology still requires detailed work on space material, oil-field metamorphism analysis, but the Touret and Nijland paper studies, and so on. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

12 DAVID OLDROYD

Be that as may, metamorphic petrology is not bibliography, writing novels, folk singing, ...): the only branch of geology whose fortunes have namely palynology. He responded with enthusi- changed in the twentieth century. Hugh Torrens asm but in so doing he found it necessary and is (or formerly was) an ammonite specialist and appropriate to trace the historical roots of the stratigrapher, but now chiefly studies the history field, so that, with its worldwide coverage, and of geology in relation to technology. He too has considering the several branches of palynology, seen his field contract during the span of his his paper starts before and does not reach the career, so that whereas biostratigraphy was once end of the twentieth century. Yet, as Sarjeant king it is now being 'squeezed' by specialties such remarks, palynology has grown from 'a scientific as magnetostratigraphy or sequence stratigra- backwater into a mainstream of research'. For phy. When presenting his Rio paper, Torrens example, in my own recent investigations of the sought (at my request!) to do the impossible, history of geology in the English Lake District, I namely discuss stratigraphy as a whole during the have been forcibly struck by the significance of twentieth century. In his revised version, he has acritarchs for making progress in the under- focused on the question of precision and the standing of the stratigraphy of rocks such as the extent to which measurements of time by various Skiddaw Slates, which have few macrofossils. To stratigraphic criteria are more or less precise, and a significant extent, it has been acritarchs that well founded. He takes his starting-point in the have promoted major revisions in structural nineteenth century, considering the work of the understanding, helping, for example, to reveal American Henry Shaler Williams and the the presence of olistostrome structures in the English stratigrapher, Sydney Savory Buckman. Lakes. Palynology is also making major contri- They showed how fossils allowed the correlation butions to palaeoclimatology and Quaternary of different rock units in different localities and geology, not to mention the oil industry. how different thicknesses and types of rock can Palynologists (and palaeontologists more represent equal amounts of time. Particular generally) are much concerned to inter-relate lithologies may cross time-lines. For Torrens, the their knowledge of fossils by having knowledge notion of correlation implies determination, or of the literature - which may sometimes be pub- knowledge, of time. And the question he lished in disconcertingly obscure places. Sar- addresses in his paper is what measures are jeant's paper does not pretend to offer a guide to available for the determination of time, so that the literature of palynology as a whole, even to stratigraphy can make increasingly precise his approximate closing date of the 1970s. He determination of time-intervals. says he is writing a 'short history'. Nevertheless, Torrens argues that biostratigraphy, where his bibliography is massive, and should be of changes of fossil types are able to be calibrated by considerable value to palynologists, or to 'out- radiometric determinations (cf. Holmes's work), siders' who may become involved in the field still provides the best way for stratigraphers to from time to time. Sarjeant's paper is partly proceed, and in consequence he deplores the loss autobiographical, for he has himself played his of 'ammonite lore', for example, that has begun part in twentieth century palynology. It is pleas- to afflict stratigraphy. Torrens also has, with ing to have his own account of some of his con- others, doubts about the efficacy of sequence tributions, and his recollections of encounters stratigraphy, fearing that it may be prone to with colleagues. Whether the interest in matters arguing in circles; for the 'packets' of sediments bibliographical is a sign of the 'old age' of a disci- identified by seismic investigation are not always pline, as Menard's arguments might lead one to dated (calibrated) by palaeontological methods. imagine, I leave others to figure out. Naturally, However, he does not actually deal with palynology has extended its influences consider- sequence stratigraphy, its extensive successful ably, subsequent to Professor Sarjeant's self- use in (say) the oil industry notwithstanding. imposed cut-off date of 1970. Rather, he discusses the question of the chrono- Microfossils are, of course, never likely to 'run logical precision of the events claimed to be out', but it is not obvious that the same holds true associated with the impacts of meteorites. for macrofossils in a small country like Britain, In considering potential papers for the present where collectors from schoolchildren to profes- collection, it was evidently impossible to have sors have long been active. To what extent should one that covered the whole of palaeontology, collecting be open to all, and what regulations (if which would have been as unrealistic as a paper any) should apply to collecting and conser- that might cover stratigraphy as a whole. So for vation? This became an acute problem in Britain palaeontology I invited William Sarjeant to and some other countries in the late twentieth write a paper on the history of one of his numer- century. Ideas on the matter - and the appropri- ous fields of interest (e.g., palynology, ichnology, ate regulations - have varied considerably. The Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

INTRODUCTION 13 problem is treated historically, largely for Britain within a single discipline. We have, then, what has but also with reference to America, by the muse- been called 'transdisciplinarity' (Gibbons et al. ologist Simon Knell. In his paper, we encounter 1997). For science in this 'mode' (so-called 'Mode the cultural, social, and political framework 2'), results are communicated, not primarily by within which geology operates. Through his publicly accessible journals, but by 'internal' study of the recent history of collecting, Knell reports and personal contacts. Knowledge may examines the issue of geology's changing social move with the practitioners as they transfer to context, thereby showing the way that science new problems when old ones are solved. New operates in practice. He is interested in the public kinds of sites for the production of knowledge perception of geology and the way geology pre- emerge - in consultancies, think-tanks, industrial sents itself to the world, as well as its 'internal' laboratories, etc. - side by side the traditional workings. ones to be found in universities and research There is no simple answer to the question: to institutes. Funding is garnered from numerous have or not to have unregulated collection? But different sources, according to what may be questions that have no simple answers are available and the nature of the problems in hand. always worth asking. Knell concerns himself Concomitantly, the network of interested with fossils, but what he says applies equally to parties increases: we may find natural scientists, mineral collection and conservation, or even social scientists, lawyers, business people, engi- rocks. ! think his paper sufficiently reveals the neers - a heterogeneous mix - all involved in nature of the question, which is part of the much developing solutions to problems. Those who broader problem of the conservation of objects, are involved may find themselves embroiled in whether they be buildings, archives .... or the politics and have to be increasingly aware of the environment as a whole. Knell focuses on geo- social, political, and economic implications of logical collecting in one country in the late twen- what they are doing. They must take account of tieth century. But his paper raises larger issues; the values and interests of groups normally and so far as geology is concerned it may prompt regarded as outside the system of science and questions about policies in countries where technology: solutions to problems have to be problems of collection and conservation are not socially, politically, and economically accept- yet as acute as in Britain. It may be, as Touret able. The fact that this came to be so increasingly and Nijland suggest, that metamorphic petrol- in the late twentieth century is illustrated by ogy is now in 'retreat'. But Knell's kinds of ques- Knell's paper. The science he discusses does not tions will necessarily become more acute in the grow like a free shoot in a hot-house (or ivory twenty-first century and beyond. They link the tower). It has to interact with all the forces of the present selection of papers with the trends society in which it finds itself and negotiate its towards the increasing interest on the part of activities accordingly. It is, in consequence, a earth scientists in environmental issues and rather different kind of science from that which conservation issues, previously noted. De Solla Price analyzed three decades earlier It may also be mentioned that Knell's paper ('Mode 1') - which was based on the study of a signals important changes that have occurred in scientific field from the first half of the century. the very nature of science, as a whole, towards Regretfully, the present collection can only the end of the twentieth century. When De Solla scratch the surface of the history of twentieth Price wrote, his 'growing-shoot' analogy was century geology. How and why the changes to perhaps more apt than it is today. In the 1960s, science referred to in the preceding paragraph the advancing fronts for different geological came about are problems too large to be entered research programmes could be approximated by into here. But, as said, analysis must precede syn- the metaphor of more or less discrete growing thesis. So without claiming to have achieved a shoots- extending towards the light chiefly in the synthesis, it is hoped nevertheless that the favourable environments of university depart- present collection will prove useful to those who ments, research institutes, or national govern- may subsequently tackle the heroic task of ment-funded geological surveys. But things furnishing an historical synthesis of twentieth became substantially different in the second half century geology, earth science, planetary science, of the century. Tax-sourced funding declined. environmental science, conservation,... Problems came to be addressed, not just in the I am most grateful to Gordon Craig, Gregory Good, context of research programmes but in the Richard Howarth, Simon Knell, Cherry Lewis, Ursula context of particular technical applications or Marvin, David Miller, Timo Nijland, Martyn Stoker, goals, which are diffused through society. Prob- William Sarjeant, Hugh Torrens, Jacques Touret, and lems like the extraction of oil from beneath the Davis Young for their helpful comments on drafts of North Sea could not be solved by expertise this Introduction. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021

14 DAVID OLDROYD

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