Book Description
Portrait of Lord Kelvin
Author : Joe D. Burchfield
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 46,68 MB
Release : 1990-05-15
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0226080439
Portrait of Lord Kelvin
Author : Archibald W Hendry
Publisher : World Scientific
Page : 147 pages
File Size : 28,79 MB
Release : 2020-01-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 9813279710
This book spells out in detail how the age of the Earth has been determined over the centuries. First — the 'biblical' age: how was the date of Creation 4004 BC figured out? A date which is so important even today ... it is the basis of claims made by millions that the Earth is only about 6000 years old. Next — the response of geologists (and Darwin) for a very old Earth. Then, Kelvin's calculation of how long it would take for a hot Earth to cool down to its present state. And finally, today's answer ('billions'), based on the properties of radioactive materials. So, how old is Planet Earth?Related Link(s)
Author : Mario Livio
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 47,45 MB
Release : 2013-05-14
Category : Science
ISBN : 1439192383
Drawing on the lives of five great scientists, this “scholarly, insightful, and beautifully written book” (Martin Rees, author of From Here to Infinity) illuminates the path to scientific discovery. Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein all made groundbreaking contributions to their fields—but each also stumbled badly. Darwin’s theory of natural selection shouldn’t have worked, according to the prevailing beliefs of his time. Lord Kelvin gravely miscalculated the age of the earth. Linus Pauling, the world’s premier chemist, constructed an erroneous model for DNA in his haste to beat the competition to publication. Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle dismissed the idea of a “Big Bang” origin to the universe (ironically, the caustic name he gave to this event endured long after his erroneous objections were disproven). And Albert Einstein speculated incorrectly about the forces of the universe—and that speculation opened the door to brilliant conceptual leaps. As Mario Livio luminously explains in this “thoughtful meditation on the course of science itself” (The New York Times Book Review), these five scientists expanded our knowledge of life on earth, the evolution of the earth, and the evolution of the universe, despite and because of their errors. “Thoughtful, well-researched, and beautifully written” (The Washington Post), Brilliant Blunders is a wonderfully insightful examination of the psychology of five fascinating scientists—and the mistakes as well as the achievements that made them famous.
Author : Crosbie Smith
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 906 pages
File Size : 43,71 MB
Release : 1989-10-26
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780521261739
This study of Lord Kelvin, the most famous mathematical physicist of 19th-century Britain, delivers on a speculation long entertained by historians of science that Victorian physics expressed in its very content the industrial society that produced it.
Author : Arthur Holmes
Publisher :
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 37,87 MB
Release : 1913
Category : Earth
ISBN :
Author : Silvanus Phillips Thompson
Publisher :
Page : 638 pages
File Size : 25,90 MB
Release : 1910
Category : Physicists
ISBN :
Author : Ron Miksha
Publisher : CreateSpace
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 28,15 MB
Release : 2014-08-01
Category :
ISBN : 9781497562387
Fifty years ago, no one could explain mountains. Arguments about their origin were spirited, to say the least. Progressive scientists were ridiculed for their ideas. Most geologists thought the Earth was shrinking. Contracting like a hot ball of iron, shrinking and exposing ridges that became mountains. Others were quite sure the planet was expanding. Growth widened sea basins and raised mountains. There was yet another idea, the theory that the world's crust was broken into big plates that jostled around, drifting until they collided and jarred mountains into existence. That idea was invariably dismissed as pseudo-science. Or "utter damned rot" as one prominent scientist said. But the doubtful theory of plate tectonics prevailed. Mountains, earthquakes, ancient ice ages, even veins of gold and fields of oil are now seen as the offspring of moving tectonic plates. Just half a century ago, most geologists sternly rejected the idea of drifting continents. But a few intrepid champions of plate tectonics dared to differ. The Mountain Mystery tells their story.
Author : John H. Lienhard
Publisher :
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 37,77 MB
Release : 1988
Category :
ISBN :
Author : G. Brent Dalrymple
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 506 pages
File Size : 42,31 MB
Release : 1991
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780804723312
A synthesis of all that has been postulated and is known about the age of the Earth
Author : Cherry Lewis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 31,1 MB
Release : 2012-03-29
Category : Science
ISBN : 1107659590
How old is the Earth? At the end of the 19th century, geologists, biologists, physicists and astronomers were all looking for a clock that would provide an answer to this greatest time question of all. Here is the story of one man's vision in developing a geological time scale that would finally lead to an accurate date for the age of the Earth