From Local Patriotism to a Planetary Perspective: Impact Crater Research in Germany, 1930s-1970s

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Martina Kolbl-Ebert Dr. Ernst Hamm

From Local Patriotism to a Planetary Perspective

Impact Crater Research in Germany, 1930s-1970s

Martina Kolbl-Ebert, Dr. Ernst Hamm, Dr. Robert M. Brain

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English

Routledge
18 March 2016

European history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Historical geology

Series: Science, Technology and Culture, 1700-1945

The Nördlinger Ries and Steinheim Basin, two conspicuous geological structures in southern Germany, were traditionally viewed as somewhat enigmatic but nevertheless definitely volcanic edifices until they were finally recognized as impact craters in the 1960s. The changing views about the origin of the craters mark an important paradigm shift in the Earth sciences, from an Earth-centric approach to a planetary perspective that acknowledged Earth’s place in the wider cosmos. Drawing on a range of printed sources, detailed archival material, letters, personal notes, and interviews with veterans of Ries research, Martina Kölbl-Ebert provides a detailed reconstruction, not only of the historical sequence of events throughout the twentieth century, but also of the personal thoughts, emotions and motives of the scientists involved and the social context of their research. She shows that there was a sudden reconnection of German researchers with the international scientific community, particularly with more progressive American researchers, after some twenty-five years of scientific isolation during the build-up to WWII and its aftermath. This reconnection brought about not only a new view of geoscience, but also saved German geology from self-sufficiency and patriotic arrogance by integrating it in an interdisciplinary and international framework. In so doing this book sheds much valuable light on an under-explored but crucial development in the way we understand Earth’s history, as well as the way that science functioned during times of conflict.

By: Martina Kolbl-Ebert
Series edited by: Dr. Ernst Hamm, Dr. Robert M. Brain
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 884g
ISBN: 9781472438867
ISBN 10: 1472438868
Series: Science, Technology and Culture, 1700-1945
Pages: 402
Publication Date: 18 March 2016
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Further / Higher Education , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface; Introducing the smoking gun; Early impactists and their sources; Dismissing impact I; A letter from Berlin; Kaalijärv Crater and Köfels landslide; Impact physics - beyond human imagination; ‘German geology’; Setting the stage; The tide is turning; Dismissing impact II; Testing an old theory; Ries Crater - a terrestrial proxy for the Moon; From local patriotism to a planetary perspective; Glossary; References; Index.

Dr Martina Kolbl-Ebert is director of the Jura-Museum Eichstatt and curator of the natural history collections of the Bishop's Seminary in Eichstatt, Germany. Her principal research interests are in the history of geosciences.

Reviews for From Local Patriotism to a Planetary Perspective: Impact Crater Research in Germany, 1930s-1970s

"’I strongly recommend this book on the basis of its topic and its larger themes, but also on the strength of its scholarship. Scholars working on other aspects of German participation in geoscience will discover a great deal of useful information in Martina KÃ¶lbl-Ebert’s study of the impact/volcanic controversy as it unfolded around these specific locales in Germany.’ International Commission on the History of the Geological Sciences ""This work is probably best described as an important contribution to the literature and a highly readable academic monograph (...) it is a vital resource for historians of the twentieth-century geosciences, as well as anyone interested in the cultural and social contexts that constrain science, offering as it does an excellent analysis in English of a global scientific debate centred on German ideas and geology."" - Leucha Veneer in Archives of Natural History, 2017"