A brief history of Geoscience
Have you had problems choosing your major? Do you still have problems choosing your major? Well, the 1700s was the time period for you. Most universities had two majors available: philosophy and religion. Science as we know it today (and most other fields of study) simply did not exist within universities. As a result, geology started out as a curiosity of wealthy gentlemen in 18th Century Great Britain (i.e., England, Wales, and Scotland). Because of how society was structured, wealthy gentlemen were really the only people who had the education and the free time to pursue scholarly activities. These men would meet together and discuss their findings and argue with each other about their ideas on how the Earth worked. Their initial discoveries discussed how rocks were deposited, how old the Earth was, and the relationship between rock units.
Back then, discussions on the age of the Earth collided with Judeo-Christian-Islamic ideas of the Earth being a few thousand years old, and Great Britain was very much a Christian (Anglican) country. If you recall from our discussions on Science as a way of knowing, the scientific method was only a century or so old idea at this time as Descartes had begun to lay down the foundation for modern scientific inquiry. Despite this, these early Earth scientists went on to describe some of the key principles of geology that remain to this day. These principles are described in the next module. But first, let’s take a look at how geology got its start.
Prior to the 18th Century, the only explanation for the origin of the Earth and Earth structures was through the idea of Cataclysm. This explanation said that the Earth was created from a few cataclysmic events like Noah’s Flood (Bible, Genesis). Above is a picture of Michelangelo’s depiction of the Great Flood on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. (Image credit: Vatican Museums)
Late-1700s – New Science. Enter James Hutton (1726-1797), a gentleman farmer who had some free time. Hutton was able to attend the new medical school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Educated on the current ideas on science and philosophy, Hutton mingled with a gentleman’s club that included Adam Smith (a famous economist), James Watt (who invented the steam engine), and John Playfair (a famous mathematician). This club of the socially elite met to discuss scholarly activities and ideas, likely while smoking pipes and drinking scotch. Well, Hutton was fascinated by rocks and minerals, and he happened to be in the right place at the right time to make a statement about the formation of Earth.
Unsatisfied with Cataclysm as the best explanation for Earth structures, Hutton and his contemporaries began questioning the ideas. Hutton, himself, made many observations (and completed water color paintings) of many rock structures around Edinburgh, Scotland. (See picture at the bottom of the page.) He concluded, after studying rocks at many outcrops, that each layer represented a specific interval of geologic time. Simply put, the evidence he found didn't match the assumed historical descriptions of Cataclysm. He realized that the processes that he saw happening every day, like rainfall and erosion, happened slowly and concluded that these same processes over long periods of time could also explain the formation of the rock structures he saw.
He published his findings in 1788, Theory of the Earth. While his book didn’t become a best seller - it was difficult to read and his ideas contradicted the Bible –, he fortunately, had a good friend who was a good writer. (Note here, that he used the word “theory.” Because there were not peer-reviewed journals back then and Science was in its infancy, he used the word “theory.” In modern science-speak, his idea at the time it was published would have been a hypothesis.) Hutton merely got the Scientific Method within geology rolling: he posed a question, and provided evidence to a possible solution for future scientists to test.
Frederick Street, Edinburgh. This is a replica
of a watercolor done by James Hutton of a rock exposure in Edinburgh,
Scotland (which is very similar to rock exposures in the Appalachian Mountains).
Hutton was a key founder of geology, and made many of his discoveries
by simply looking at the rocks in his town and near his farm (USGS)