Geology

Featured exhibit items for geology.

Exhibit Items

2	On the Nature of Metals Agricola, Georg (1556) Agricola described early modern mining and metallurgy practices throughout the German speaking areas of Europe. The remarkable illustrations make this work a paramount example of how abundant visual representations in the Printing Revolution transformed science and technology.
4	Studies on Glaciers Agassiz, Louis (1840) In 1840, Agassiz introduced a radical element of contingency into geohistory, contrary to then widespread assumptions of uninterrupted gradual cooling.
5	On the Snowflake, or the Six-Angled Crystal Kepler, Johann (1611) Kepler’s contributions reached far beyond the realm of astronomy, to meteorology, mathematics, geology, mineralogy and crystallography. Kepler published this 24-page pamphlet, a study of the snowflake, as a New Year’s greeting for a friend.
5	Phosphorescent Rock, or, On the Light of the Bolognese Stone Liceti, Fortunio (1640) Galileo studied the “Stone of Bologna” or “solar sponge,” produced by alchemists from calcining spar (barium sulfide), which glows in the dark. Galileo inferred from its cool luminescence that light is not the same as heat, but a distinct entity, contra Aristotle.
6	Dissection of the Head of a Shark Steno, Niels (1667) In an appendix to an anatomical work, written for Ferdinand Medici II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Steno recounted his dissection of the head of a shark that recently had washed ashore.
7	Essay on the Mineral Geography of the Paris Basin Cuvier, Georges (1810) Brongniart and Cuvier showed how fossils were the key to unravelling the order of the strata in the Paris basin. Their fieldwork discoveries and anatomical reconstructions of fossils of large quadrupeds demonstrated the existence of former, pre-human worlds.
7	Treatise on Fossil Mineral Wood Stelluti, Francesco (1637) The Academy of the Lynx emblem appears prominently on this title page. Although Stelluti once believed that fossils resembling wood originated from buried tree trunks, Cesi persuaded him otherwise.
11	Subterranean World Kircher, Athanasius (1665) This is one of two richly-embellished global sections which depict Kircher’s vision of interlaced systems of air, fire, and water around and within the Earth.
13	On the Magnet Gilbert, William (1600) Gilbert, a physician to Queen Elisabeth I, wrote the first experimental treatise devoted to magnetism. Gilbert discerned analogies between the Earth and magnets, and reasoned that the Earth itself is a magnet.
15	The Origin of Continents and Oceans Wegener, Alfred (1924) This page reflects Wegener’s interest in temperature fluctuations and patterns of glaciation. The theory of continental drift developed from Wegener’s researches in Greenland as a meteorologist with an interest in polar climate.