000			02843nam a22003498i 4500
001			CR9780511617782
003			UkCbUP
005			20200124160211.0
006			m|||||o||d||||||||
007			cr||||||||||||
008			090915s2006||||enk o ||1 0|eng|d
020			_a9780511617782 (ebook)
020			_z9780521813327 (hardback)
040			_aUkCbUP _beng _erda _cUkCbUP
043			_ax------
050	0	0	_aQE508 _b.W97 2006
082	0	4	_a550 _222
100	1		_aWyse Jackson, Patrick, _eauthor.
245	1	4	_aThe chronologers' quest : _bepisodes in the search for the age of the earth / _cPatrick Wyse Jackson.
264		1	_aCambridge : _bCambridge University Press, _c2006.
300			_a1 online resource (xvii, 291 pages) : _bdigital, PDF file(s).
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_acomputer _bc _2rdamedia
338			_aonline resource _bcr _2rdacarrier
500			_aTitle from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 01 Feb 2016).
505	0		_aThe ancients : early chronologies -- Biblical calculations -- Models of Aristotelian infinity and sacred theories of the earth -- Falling stones, salty oceans, and evaporating waters : early empirical measurements of the age of the earth -- Thinking in layers : early ideas in stratigraphy -- An infinite and cyclical earth and religious orthodoxy -- The cooling earth -- Stratigraphical laws, uniformitarianism and the development of the geological column -- 'Formed stones' and their subsequent role in biostratigraphy and evolutionary theory -- The hour-glass of accumulated or denuded sediments -- Thermodynamics and the cooling earth revisited -- Oceanic salination reconsidered -- Radioactivity : invisible geochronometers -- The universal problem and duck soup.
520			_aThe debate over the age of the Earth has been ongoing for over two thousand years, and has pitted physicists and astronomers against biologists, religious philosophers against geologists. The Chronologers' Quest tells the fascinating story of our attempts to determine the age of the Earth. This book investigates the many novel methods used in the search for the Earth's age, from James Ussher and John Lightfoot examining biblical chronologies, Comte de Buffon and Lord Kelvin determining the length of time for the cooling of the Earth, to the more recent investigations of Arthur Holmes and Clair Patterson into radioactive dating of rocks and meteorites. The Chronologers' Quest is a readable account of the measurement of geological time. It will be of great interest to a wide range of readers, from those with little scientific background, to students and scientists in a wide range of the earth sciences.
650		0	_aGeochronometry.
650		0	_aGeological time.
776	0	8	_iPrint version: _z9780521813327
856	4	0	_uhttps://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617782
999			_c515781 _d515779