Geophysics in the Affairs of Man

A Personalized History of Exploration Geophysics and Its Allied Sciences of Seismology and Oceanography

Charles C. Bates, Thomas F. Gaskell, Robert B. Rice

• Publisher: Pergamon
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780080240251
• eBook ISBN:
  9781483278483
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geology & Earth Sciences

Geophysics in the Affairs of Man: A Personalized History of Exploration Geophysics and its Allied Sciences of Seismology and Oceanography describes many of the key and intriguing developments which took place within several major fields of geophysics. This book is composed of nine chapters that focus on the geophysical enterprise as an interplay of technical, social, and economic factors. After a brief overview of geophysics activity before the World War I, this book goes on the period of the so-called ""golden days"" of exploration geophysics. The succeeding chapter deals with the exploration geophysics during the global war, particularly the classical seismological activity during this time. These topics are followed by discussions of the geophysical activities from 1945 to 1960, as well as the introduction of oceanography field. Other chapters cover the interaction between geophysics and ecology, as well as OPEC during the period of 1970s and early 1980s. The final chapters consider the status and nature of geophysical exploration industry. This book will prove useful to geophysicists, historians, and researchers in the allied fields.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Geophysics in the Affairs of Man: A Personalized History of Exploration Geophysics and its Allied Sciences of Seismology and Oceanography
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Approximate Conversion Factors
• Prologue
• Chapter 1. Some Antecedents to the Modern-day Profession of Geophysics Through World War I
• Chapter 2. Geophysics Comes of Age—The Roaring Twenties and the Depressing Thirties
• Chapter 3. Geophysicists at War—1939–1945
• Chapter 4. Reversion to Peacetime, 1945–1950
• Chapter 5. The 1950s—A Burgeoning Era of Geophysics
• Chapter 6. Science in Government and Government in Science—the 1960s
• Chapter 7. Geophysics Interacts with the Environmentalists and OPEC—the 1970s and the Early 1980s
• Chapter 8. Geophysics as a Business—Then and Now
• Chapter 9. Geophysics As They Saw It
• Appendix A: Significant Events in the Evolution of Geophysical Service, Inc. and its Offshoot,Texas Instruments, Inc
• References
• Name Index
• Subject Index
• About the Authors