1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910254078003321

Autore

Kragh Helge

Titolo

Varying Gravity : Dirac’s Legacy in Cosmology and Geophysics / / by Helge Kragh

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Birkhäuser, , 2016

ISBN

3-319-24379-9

Edizione

[1st ed. 2016.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (197 p.)

Collana

Science Networks. Historical Studies, , 1421-6329 ; ; 54

Disciplina

523.1

Soggetti

Mathematics

History

Cosmology

Geophysics

History of Mathematical Sciences

Geophysics and Environmental Physics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preface -- 1.Introductory Issues -- 2.Varying Gravity -- 3.The Expanding Earth -- 4.After Plate Tectonics -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

The main focus of this book is on the interconnection of two unorthodox scientific ideas, the varying-gravity hypothesis and the expanding-earth hypothesis. As such, it provides a fascinating insight into a nearly forgotten chapter in both the history of cosmology and the history of the earth sciences. The hypothesis that the force of gravity decreases over cosmic time was first proposed by Paul Dirac in 1937. In this book the author examines in detail the historical development of Dirac’s hypothesis and its consequences for the structure and history of the earth, the most important of which was that the earth must have been smaller in the past.