Plate_Tectonics_Revolution

Plate Tectonics Revolution

Plate Tectonics Revolution

Scientific and cultural change which developed from the acceptance of the plate tectonics theory

The Plate Tectonics Revolution was the scientific and cultural change which developed from the acceptance of the plate tectonics theory. The event was a paradigm shift and scientific revolution.[1]

By 1967 most scientists in geology accepted the theory of plate tectonics.[2] The root of this was Alfred Wegener's 1912 publication of his theory of continental drift, which was a controversy in the field through the 1950s.[2] At that point scientists introduced new evidence in a new way, replacing the idea of continental drift with instead a theory of plate tectonics.[2] The acceptance of this theory brought scientific and cultural change which commentators called the "Plate Tectonics Revolution".[2]

Response

In 1975 a paper said that "plate tectonics" gained general acceptance in its field in 1968 and called that acceptance a revolution.[3]

One scientist said that the Plate Tectonics Revolution brought excitement among scientists in the field in the 1960s.[4]

Publications in generations after the event reflected on how the Plate Tectonics Revolution was an early example of data science.[5]

One commentator claimed that the plate tectonics theory became popular and established a revolution in culture even before scientists could confirm some of the claims for which evidence was lacking.[6]

There are claims that science in Russia was a significant contribution to the Plate Tectonics Revolution, but Western bias against Russia has blocked recognition of their contributions.[7]

List of revolutionaries

References

  1. [1]
    Casadevall, Arturo; Fang, Ferric C. (1 March 2016). "Revolutionary Science". mBio. 7 (2): e00158–16. doi:10.1128/mBio.00158-16. PMC 4810483. PMID 26933052.
  2. [2]
    Frankel, Henry (2009). "Plate Tectonics". The Cambridge History of Science. Cambridge University Press. pp. 383–394. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521572019.021. ISBN 9781139056007.
  3. [3]
    Dietz, Robert S. (March 1977). "Plate tectonics: A revolution in geology and geophysics". Tectonophysics. 38 (1–2): 1–6. Bibcode:1977Tectp..38....1D. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(77)90197-4.
  4. [4]
    Oliver, Jack (February 1991). "Seismology, the plate tectonics revolution, and making it happen again". Tectonophysics. 187 (1–3): 37–49. Bibcode:1991Tectp.187...37O. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(91)90411-K.
  5. [5]
    Morford, Stacy (24 May 2016). "The Plate Tectonics Revolution: It Was All About the Data". State of the Planet. The Earth Institute.
  6. [6]
    Le Pichon, Xavier (2013). "The "revolution" of Plate Tectonics in earth sciences and the relationship between science, reason, and truth" (PDF). Euresis Journal. 5 (summer): 109–124.
  7. [7]
    Khain, Victor E.; Ryabukhin, Anatoly G. (2002). "Russian geology and the plate tectonics revolution". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 192 (1): 185–198. Bibcode:2002GSLSP.192..185K. doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.2002.192.01.09. S2CID 129112412.

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