A History of Modern Planetary Physics: Nebulous Earth

by Stephen G. Brush

Overview

During the past 200 years, astronomers and geologists have developed and tested several different theories about the origin of the solar system and the nature of the Earth. Together, the three volumes that comprise A History of Modern Planetary Physics present a survey of these theories. Nebulous Earth follows the development of Laplace's Nebular Hypothesis, its connection with ideas about the interior of the Earth, and its role in the establishment of the "evolutionary" worldview that dominated science in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Brush also explores Saturn's rings, Poincaré's contributions to ideas about cosmic evolution, the use of seismology to probe the earth's core, and explanations of the Earth's magnetic field. This series will interest historians and philosophers of science as well as earth scientists and geologists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521441711
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/26/1996
Series:	History of Modern Planetary Physics , #1
Pages:	326
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Part I. Nebular Birth and Heat Death: 1. Introduction; 2. The Founders: Laplace and Herschel; 3. Followers and critics; 4. The Nebular Hypothesis and the evolutionary worldview; 5. Thermodynamics and the cooling Earth; 6. Saturn's rings (with C. W. F. Everitt and Elizabeth Garber); 7. Revisions of the Nebular Hypothesis, 1860–85; 8. Poincare and cosmic evolution; 9. The Nebular Hypothesis in the 20th century; Part II. Inside the Earth: 1. A journey to the center of the Earth; 2. Nineteenth-century debates: Solid, liquid or gas?; 3. Discovery of the Earth's core; 4. Chemical history of the core; 5. Geomagnetic secular variation (with S. K. Banerjee); 6. Time and tide; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...a major work, large in scope and splendid in execution....This will be a standard work for a long time to come." Curtis Wilson, Physics Today

"The three-volume A History of Modern Planetary Physics by Stephen G. Brush is a amjor work, large in scope and splendidin execution....Brush's account of many of the episodes is enhanced by his personal correspondence with the scientists involved....Brush's text...is workmanlike and probingly thoughtful. This will be a standard work for a long time to come." Physics Today

"I recommend this work highly for those with interests in the history of geology or astronomy, the development of scientific ideas, or the role of the individual within the scientific community." Michael Thayer, Science Books and Films

From the Publisher

Follows the evolution of the most popular 19th-century explanation for the origin of the Solar System, Leplace's Nebular Hypothesis, which held that a flattened mass of gas extending beyond Neptune cooled, shrank, and threw off successive rings that coalesced into planets. Also recounts the various theories about what occurs in the Earth's interior, from fiery fluid to rigid solid to electromagnetic dynamo. Inaugurates a three- volume set. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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