Moser, Desmond E. (Author)
Substantia: An International Journal of the History of Chemistry
Volume: 5
Issue: 1 (Supplement 1)
Pages: 99-114
The writings of Niels Stensen (Steno) on mineral growth and modification in his Prodromus, together with his work on time and process in other solids, are here synthesized as five classes of time features defined by changes in the visible continuity of either or both chemistry and orientation. This organization highlights Steno’s implicit recognition of the fractal, scale-invariant nature of natural time features with regard to space, time, and material. The effectiveness of this Stenonian geochronology framework is demonstrated down to atom scale with modern case studies of the U-Pb geochronology of mineral zircon in samples originating from the Earth, Moon, and Mars spanning most of solar system history. Recently discovered nano-scale features, here termed chronostructures, were intimated by Steno in his corpuscular view of mineral behaviour. The remarkable advances in the Prodromus are seen here as resulting from the intersections of Steno’s highly attuned approach to visual perception, his adoption of Stoic (Senecan) ethics early in his career to guide his natural philosophy, and the influence of the Galilean scientific environment of Florence. It is argued that the scale-invariant, intensive quality of Stenonian geochronology makes it an invaluable check on the accuracy of absolute, extensive measurements of geologic time by chemical or isotopic means. In this way Steno’s scientific legacy continues to propel human understanding of how we see our place in time.
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