Darwin...the Geologist?

[cytodork]

It seems that in addition to his work with the science of evolution, Darwin was also way ahead of his time with his conclusions about geology...

I wonder why THIS isn't being taught in schools...Probably to avoid any confusion about 'where mountains come from'...

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2010/03/darwin-and-the-chilean-earthquake.html

Heard about this on NPR's Science Friday - guest was Ross Stein, Geophysicist,U.S. Geological Survey

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201003051

[TZ]

1. Darwin was a brilliant scientist

His skills of observing and correlating data were obviously second to none. I'm not surprised to learn that he grasped this type of geology as well.

[SkyDaddy7]

3. Have you seen this article?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/science/earth/04climate.html?scp=3&sq=evolution&st=cse

Is America headed for a new dark ages?

[TZ]

4. Yeah it makes sense

Unfortunately. I've been arguing with GW deniers on another board and they really do act like creationists. One person even gave a quote from Buddha to defend his skepticism. Okaaay.
Too many people don't understand scientific consensus or understand that one or two pieces of data cannot either proove a theory or disprove a theory.

[SkyDaddy7]

5. Exactly!

I have always been skeptical and I even applied undue skepticism on things early in life to include most of science...However, over the years I have read numerous science related books and was simply BLOWN AWAY by what we actually do know but even more by how we know what we know! The scientific method works so well because everyone is trying to disprove everyone else...And this purifies the results! IMHO.

You are correct the deniers operate much like creationist because many are! The others are simply politically motivated and I would imagine almost all of them lack the understanding of what goes into a scientific consensus or Theory! If they only knew how much scientist are at each others throats to disprove the others work and even how hard some scientist try to disprove their own work I think some opinions would change. However, these are Americans who take great pride in their ignorance just watch FOX (TABLOID) News!

I have to be honest I am worried about the future of American Science...The future of our economic system relies on the success of our scientist. Together with our stupid immigration laws & the religious right's campaign to undermine the US Constitution & teach creationism in public schools things do not look good.

Steven Hawking said he might be moving to Canada due to the huge cuts in science budget...I would imagine we might see a brain drain to Canada if things do not change! If so, I might try to move as well! LOL!

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. The 'Hawking might move to Canada' thing turned out to be wrong

The Daily Mail printing something incorrect about the British government, or science? Who'd have thought it???

Hawking denies plans to leave Britain in protest against funding cuts

Media reports that the renowned physicist was considering a move to Canada are unfounded

Contrary to media reports this week, Stephen Hawking, the former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, has no plans to leave the UK for Canada in protest at the Government’s cuts in funding for higher education.

This summer, Professor Hawking intends to make a two-month visit to the privately-funded Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Ontario, where he already holds the visiting position of Distinguished Research Chair.

A report in the Daily Mail suggested that this visit was a precursor to taking up a permanent position at the Institute. According to Professor Hawking’s website, though, this is untrue.

On the website’s blog it was said: “It looks like Stephen's graduate assistant, Sam Blackburn, has been misquoted again. He told Kate Loveys, a Daily Mail reporter, that Stephen Hawking has no plans whatsoever to move abroad permanently. The quote ‘Professor Hawking is considering a move...’ is definitely false.”

http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/2151

[SkyDaddy7]

7. Thank-you!

The media will do almost anything these days for attention! Well, that is almost anything but report the facts! LOL!

Thank-you!

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. This is fairly well known

For instance, the musuem of Earth Sciences in Cambridge has an exhibition 'Darwin the Geologist':

Darwin the Geologist tells the story of the rocks that Darwin collected on the voyage of HMS Beagle (1831-1836). It begins with Darwin's schoolboy passion for collecting and identifying stones and the exciting geological debates he was exposed to while studying medicine in Edinburgh.

When Darwin abandoned his medical studies, he came to study in Cambridge to prepare for the Anglican Clergy. Darwin was inspired to learn about natural philosophy by the Professor of Botany John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), who arranged geological fieldwork training with Adam Sedgwick in North Wales and recommended him as a scientific companion to Captain Fitzroy on the Beagle voyage.

The exhibition shows how Darwin collected, recorded, analysed and interpreted his geological specimens on the voyage. It takes you on a journey through the geological ideas that Darwin developed from the first stop at the Cape Verde Islands through to his studies of the coral reefs at Tahiti, Cocos-Keeling and Mauritius towards the end of the voyage. Along the way you can discover how Darwin's fossil finds of large extinct creatures at Punta Alta (Argentina) made him famous back home, what his journey on horseback for weeks in the Andes told him about the formation of mountains and why his study of the rocks of the Galapagos Islands led to new ideas about what was going on inside volcanoes.


When Darwin returned home he became very active in the Geological Society of London and he used his geological collection to support his talks and articles about global-scale geological processes. These were followed by a trilogy of books on Coral Reefs (1842), Volcanic Islands (1844) and South America (1846) that made his early reputation as a scientist. Although his later work was mainly concerned with how animal and plant species evolved, geology featured prominently in Origin of Species and continued through his later life with his work on fossil barnacles and his final book on the action of the earthworm.

http://www.sedgwickmuseum.org/exhibits/darwin.html

There was even a Royal Society lecture on it 100 years ago: http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?ISBN=9781108002578

[Tumbulu]

8. I was fascinated by Ross Stein's interview on Science Friday

I love reading Darwin and have been reading his books on plant and animal breeding. His brilliance was breathtaking, and way ahead of even our times.