Genesis of a Geophysical Icon: The Bullard, Everett and Smith Reconstruction of the Circum-Atlantic Continents (2008)
Everett, J. E. (Author)
Smith, A. G. R. (Author)
Earth Sciences History: Journal of the History of the Earth Sciences Society
Volume: 27
Pages: 1--11
The first computer fit of the continents had its origins in a controversy over Warren Carey's visual fit between South America and Africa. Sir Harold Jeffreys denied that there was a fit, but Sir Edward Bullard considered the fit to be impressive. Bullard suggested quantifying the fit to Jim Everett, a graduate student at the time. Everett did so, developing his own method from his mathematical background, and computed the fit for the South Atlantic. Alan Smith, then a research assistant, used his geological knowledge and worked with Everett to fit together all the circum-Atlantic continents. Thus Bullard had the idea of quantifying the fit, and Everett and Smith implemented it. Then Smith extended the method to fits beyond the Atlantic. The outcome owed much to Bullard's leadership, and to the lively and open discussions that prevailed during coffee and tea at Madingley Rise, which housed the Department of Geodesy and Geophysics of the University of Cambridge at that time.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Anduaga, Aitor;
(2010)
Crustal Layering, Simplicity, and the Oil Industry: The Alteration of an Epistemic Paradigm by a Commercial Environment
Article
Coode, Alan M.;
(2011)
Part of the History of the Origin of Transform Faults
Article
Lilley, F. E. M.;
(2012)
Demonstrating That Continents Had Drifted: Paleomagnetic Measurements at the Australian National University, 1952--1964
Thesis
Fowler, Philip A.;
(2005)
The Longitudinal Treatment and Structure of Plate Tectonics in Introductory College-Level Physical Geology Textbooks: 1974--2005
Article
Melvyn Mason;
Robert S. White;
(2020)
Cambridge radio sonobuoys and the seismic structure of oceanic crust
Article
Alessandro Iannace;
(2019)
A three-step view for the history of geology
Article
Bento Cavadas;
(2021)
Plate tectonics in Portugese and Spanish science textbooks: From the 1960s to the 1980s
Article
Bento Cavadas;
(2019)
From the contracting earth to continental drift: Wegener's influence on Portuguese and Spanish science textbooks through the twentieth century
Article
Stefano Furlani;
Daniele Musumeci;
(2020)
Were the Continents Drifting before Continental Drift? Domenico Lovisato and the Role of Wegener’s Precursors in the Theory of Continental Drift
Article
Marvin, Ursula B.;
(2001)
Reflections on the American Rejection of Continental Drift
Article
Oreskes, Naomi;
(2013)
Earth Science: How Plate Techtonics Clicked
Book
Roman, Constantin;
(2000)
Continental Drift: Colliding Continents, Converging Cultures
Book
Powell, James Lawrence;
(2015)
Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences: From Heresy to Truth
Book
Oreskes, Naomi;
(2002)
Plate Tectonics: An Insider's History of the Modern Theory of the Earth
Chapter
Grevsmühl, Sebastian Vincent;
(2008)
Das modellierte Antlitz der Erde. Zur Geschichte der Modellierungsstrategien der Kontinentalverschiebung
Book
Powell, James Lawrence;
(2001)
Mysteries of Terra Firma: The Age and Evolution of the World
Book
Oldroyd, David R.;
(2002)
The Earth Inside and Out: Some Major Contributions to Geology in the Twentieth Century
Article
O'Connor, Anne;
(2005)
The Competition for the Woodwardian Chair of Geology: Cambridge, 1873
Article
Creer, Kenneth;
Irving, Edward;
(2012)
Testing Continental Drift: Constructing the First Palaeomagnetic Path of Polar Wander (1954)
Article
McDougall, Ian;
(2013)
Retrospective on the Plate Tectonic Revolution Focusing on K/Ar Dating, Linear Volcanic Chains and the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale
British Journal for the History of Science
Historical Records of Australian Science
Metascience: An International Review Journal for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science
Nature
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Be the first to comment!