The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius who Discovered a New History of the EarthRandom House, 2003 - 228 pages Dubbed the founder of modern geology by Stephen Jay Gould, the 17th-century Danish scientist Nicolaus Steno was the first man to discover deep time: to suggest that the existence of fossils, particularly those far away from where the animals of which they are the remains would have lived (the seashell on the mountaintop) demanded a much longer history for the Earth than the roughly 6000 years suggested by the Bible. Steno's work was ignored for over a century: he himself dropped his geological studies without completing a university dissertation; he converted to Catholicism and later became a bishop; in 1988 he was beatified by Pope John Paul I. |
Contents
PROLOGUE Pilgrims | 1 |
CHAPTER TWO Chaos | 17 |
CHAPTER THREE The Anatomist | 33 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the ... Alan Cutler Limited preview - 2003 |
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the ... Alan Cutler No preview available - 2004 |
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the ... Alan Cutler No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
anatomist anatomy ancient animals Athanasius Kircher Bartholin believed Bible biblical bishop Blaes body Borch Catholic century Church Cimento claimed Copenhagen Cosimo created Creation crystals Cutler Danish Denmark deposits Descartes dissection doubt earth everything explain fact faith famous Ferdinando figured stones Florence fossil seashells fossil shells friends Galileo geological geologists glands glossopetrae grand duke grew Hannover Hooke human ideas Isaac Newton Italy John Ray Kircher land later layers Leibniz Leopoldo Lister living Lutheran marine Martin Lister mechanical philosophy Medici million years ago mineral mollusk mountains muscle nature never Newton Nicolaus Steno Noah's Flood observed petrified philosophers physician Protestant published question Redi religion religious René Descartes Robert Boyle Robert Hooke rock strata Rome Royal Society scientific scientists Scripture sediment sedimentary seemed shape shark solid solido soul species Steno's principle story teeth theory things tion tongue stones Tuscany University Woodward