1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785303703321

Autore

Burchfield Joe D

Titolo

Lord Kelvin and the age of the earth / / Joe D. Burchfield ; with a new afterword

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago : , : University of Chicago Press, , 1990

ISBN

1-283-05813-8

9786613058133

0-226-08026-9

Edizione

[University of Chicago Press edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (281 pages) : portraits

Disciplina

551.7

Soggetti

SCIENCE / General

Earth Age

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Reprint. Originally published: New York : Science History Publications, 1975.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- I. Introduction -- II. Kelvin and the Physics of Time -- III. Kelvin's Influence: The Initial Reception -- IV/ The Triumph of Limited Time -- V. Opposition and Controversy -- VI. Radioactivity and the Age of the Earth -- VII. Conclusion -- Afterword -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Burchfield charts the enormous impact made by Lord Kelvin's application of thermodynamic laws to the question of the earth's age and the heated debate his ideas sparked among British Victorian physicists, astronomers, geologists, and biologists. "Anyone interested in geologic time, and that should include all geologists and a fair smattering of biologists, physicists and chemists, should make Burchfield's commendable and time-tested volume part of their personal library"-Brent Darymple, Quartely Review of Biology