The course treats the history of the sciences of the earth and environment from classical times to the plate tectonics and geospace physics of the late 20th-century. Topics include early cosmogonies and cosmologies; the nature of hierarchically ordered space; the role of change played by heat, water and time; the Great Scale of Being; teleology in nature; the introduction and use of mathematics and the physical sciences in geology and biology; international cooperation in the geosciences; the discovery of the unknown (new worlds, polar regions, space); human response to boundary limits; environmental bonanzas and tragedies; big science.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture
Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST
Prerequisites: None
Last Updated on MAR-22-1999
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459