The Highlands Controversy: Constructing Geological Knowledge through Fieldwork in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series)

Oldroyd, David R.

ISBN 10: 0226626342 / ISBN 13: 9780226626345

Edité par University of Chicago Press, 1990

A propos de cet article

Good - Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name - GOOD Standard-sized.

N° de réf. du vendeur M0226626342Z3

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Highlands Controversy: Constructing Geological Knowledge through Fieldwork in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series)
• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date de parution: 1990
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0226626342
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780226626345
• Reliure: Hardcover
• État de l'article: Good

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

The Highlands Controversy is a rich and perceptive account of the third and last major dispute in nineteenth-century geology stemming from the work of Sir Roderick Murchison. The earlier Devonian and Cambrian-Silurian controversies centered on whether the strata of Devon and Wales should be classified by lithological or paleontological criteria, but the Highlands dispute arose from the diffities the Scottish Highlands presented to geologists who were just learning to decipher the very complex processes of mountain building and metamorphism. David Oldroyd follows this controversy into the last years of the nineteenth century, as geology was transformed by increasing professionalization and by the development of new field and laboratory techniques. In telling this story, Oldroyd's aim is to yze how scientific knowledge is constructed within a comitive scientific community how theory, empirical findings, and social factors interact in the formation of knowledge.
Oldroyd uses archival material and his own extensive reconstruction of the nineteenth-century fieldwork in a case study showing how detailed maps and sections made it possible to understand the exceptionally complex geological structure of the Highlands
An invaluable addition to the history of geology, The Highlands Controversy also makes important contributions to our understanding of the social and conceptual processes of scientific work, especially in times of heated dispute.