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The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of the Earth's Antiquity by Jack Repcheck |
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We are setting a late June press date for this title, and have already confirmed - appearance at the Edinburgh Festival. The author has been involved in several public awareness projects connected with the June 2 lift off of the British Mars spaceprobe Beagle 2, and as he says "If there is life on Mars it must be part of a planetary biosphere, a Martian 'Gaia'. Beagle 2 will look for Mars's Gaia, for example by studying its atmosphere. Hutton's theory of the Earth was based on ideas of a living, self-sustaining planet remarkably like modern 'Gaia' ideas, 200 years ahead of their time. Hutton would surely have been thrilled to see Beagle 2 journeying to test these ideas on a new world." More news on reviews - which include NEW SCIENTIST - and interviews to foll
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In the eighteenth century, the received wisdom, following Ussher's careful biblical calculations, was that the Earth was just six thousand years old. James Hutton, a gentleman farmer with legal and medical training and a passion for rocks, knew that this could not be the case. Looking at the formation of irregular strata in the layers of the earth he deduced that a much deeper abyss of time would be required for the landscape he saw to have evolved. In the turbulent world of Enlightenment Scotland he set out to prove it. He could not have achieved this without his friends. Hutton's entourage in Edinburgh would turn out to be the leading thinkers of the age. His close circle consisted of such luminaries as Erasmus Darwin, Adam Smith, James Watt and David Hume. These brilliant men would work together to develop the nascent science of geology but would also make spectacular advances in agriculture, chemistry, philosophy, economy and engineering; as well as devising steam engines and military tactics. Hutton's geological theory of the Earth would cause a profound religious debate as well as provoking decades of criticism. His revelation, however, was ultimately one of the most extraordinary and essential moments in scientific history. This is the little-known story of a man who fought hard against orthodox beliefs to prove the antiquity of the earth and of the dedicated loyalty of an enlightened circle of friends.
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On a bright summer day in 1788, James Hutton and two close friends took a boat trip to Siccar Point, a sea cliff on Scotland's eastern coast. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
On a bright summer day in 1788, James Hutton and two close friends took a boat trip to Siccar Point, a sea cliff on Scotland's eastern coast. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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