6B. Earth Sciences, Astronomy & Biology
19-th Century ROMANTIC AGE Astronomy, Biology, Earth sciences Collected and edited by Prof. Zvi Kam, Weizmann Institute, Israel The 19th century, the Romantic era. Why romantic? Borrowed from the arts and music, but influenced also the approach to nature and its studies: emphasizing descriptive biology and classification of animals and plants. ASTRONOMY and EARTH SCIENCES EARTH SCIENCES AGE OF THE UNIVERSE AND OF EARTH How can we measure the age of the universe? The size of the universe? The size and distances of stars? How can we estimate the age of earth? How were the various chemical elements created? Characteristic of the 19th century is the transition from geology of stone collecting and sorting, to attempts on modeling the mechanisms shaping the earth crust. The release from religious constraints provided space for testing new theories based on fossils, distributions of rock and soil types, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, soil erosion and sediment, glaciers and their traces, sea floors, earth core etc. Before the 19th century, a reminder: 1650 James Ussher, 1581-1656, an Irish archbishop, claim earth was created 4000 BC, before the first day of creation. 1715 Edmond Halley, 1656-1742, Calculated an estimation of earth age from seawater salinity. He assumed the ancient see contained sweet water, and salinity rose due to earth erosion. 1785 Dr. James Parkinson, 1755-1824, a surgeon (who identified what was later called “Parkinson disease”) and a geologist, one of the founders of the geological society and a supporter of “catastrophism”. Saved the nature museum in Leicester square from bankruptcy of his owner, Sir Ashton Lever.
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