Earth-Knowledge
History of Earth Sciences as Histories of Knowledge?
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 12. December 2025
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-041-00932-0 (ISBN)
Description
Using a transdisciplinary approach, this book examines how scientific understanding of the Earth has been created, transformed, and shared across time - combining perspectives from the history of science, sociology of knowledge, and cultural studies to explore the evolution of Earth sciences.
Focusing on the practices, actors, and socio-cultural contexts that have shaped knowledge production, this volume offers fresh methodological insights and highlights the contributions of scientists, local experts, and non-specialist collaborators. Case studies range from Johann Reinhold Forster's eighteenth-century mineralogical research to Cold War impact geology and interdisciplinary developments in ice core paleoclimatology.
Targeted at scholars, students, and general readers, this book provides an innovative lens for understanding the historical dimensions of Earth sciences, bridging disciplinary boundaries and uncovering new perspectives on production and exchange of knowledge.
Focusing on the practices, actors, and socio-cultural contexts that have shaped knowledge production, this volume offers fresh methodological insights and highlights the contributions of scientists, local experts, and non-specialist collaborators. Case studies range from Johann Reinhold Forster's eighteenth-century mineralogical research to Cold War impact geology and interdisciplinary developments in ice core paleoclimatology.
Targeted at scholars, students, and general readers, this book provides an innovative lens for understanding the historical dimensions of Earth sciences, bridging disciplinary boundaries and uncovering new perspectives on production and exchange of knowledge.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Academic
Illustrations
21 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 8 s/w Zeichnungen, 29 s/w Abbildungen
8 Line drawings, black and white; 21 Halftones, black and white; 29 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
485 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-041-00932-0 (9781041009320)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Norman Henniges | Johannes Mattes | Marianne Klemun
Earth-Knowledge
History of Earth Sciences as Histories of Knowledge?
E-Book
12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€56.49
Available for download
Norman Henniges | Johannes Mattes | Marianne Klemun
Earth-Knowledge
History of Earth Sciences as Histories of Knowledge?
E-Book
12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€56.49
Available for download
Persons
Norman Henniges (Austrian Academy of Sciences) is a geographer and historian of knowledge and science (nineteenth to twentieth centuries). His research fields include historical geographies of global knowledge and the social and cultural history of geography, geology and cartography. His key publication is "Die Spur des Eises" (2017).
Johannes Mattes (University of Oslo) is a historian of knowledge and science focusing on Central and Eastern Europe from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries (geosciences, zoology, physics, medicine). His key publications include "Collaborative Research in Imperial Vienna" (2024) and "The Making of 'Classical' Karst" (2024).
Marianne Klemun (University of Vienna) is a historian of science (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries). Her research fields include cultures and political contexts of the history of natural history (geology, botany, gardens, travel, collecting and documentation). Key publication: with Spring (Eds.), "Scientific Expeditions as Experiments" (2016).
Johannes Mattes (University of Oslo) is a historian of knowledge and science focusing on Central and Eastern Europe from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries (geosciences, zoology, physics, medicine). His key publications include "Collaborative Research in Imperial Vienna" (2024) and "The Making of 'Classical' Karst" (2024).
Marianne Klemun (University of Vienna) is a historian of science (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries). Her research fields include cultures and political contexts of the history of natural history (geology, botany, gardens, travel, collecting and documentation). Key publication: with Spring (Eds.), "Scientific Expeditions as Experiments" (2016).
Content
1 Earth-Knowledge: History of Earth Sciences as Histories of Knowledge? An Introduction
Norman Henniges, Johannes Mattes, Marianne Klemun
2 "Our Earth Has Undeniably Suffered Some Great Revolutions": Johann Reinhold Forster and Scientific World-Making in Eighteenth-Century Natural History
Anne Mariss
3 Performing Science Between Laboratories and Glaciers
Dania Achermann
4 A Paradigm Shift? German Impact Crater Geology in Light of its Social/Political Context
Martina Koelbl-Ebert
5 "Very Early, the Enjoyment of Nature Research and Mountaineering Awoke in Me": Autobiographical Narratives of Lives in Earth Sciences (Early Twentieth Century, Vienna)
Sandra Klos
6 Willful Eyes and Hands: Transferring Theories into Mapmaking Knowledge in Justus Perthes' Geographical Establishment, ca. 1900-1930
Philipp Meyer
7 Vitrified Forts. Prehistoric Settlements as a Topic of Chemistry, Geology, and Early Archaeology in Scotland and Saxony (Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Century)
Susanne Grunwald
8 Bibliographic Data as Knowledge Proxies: Mapping Books and Tracing the Scientific Discipline of "Historische Geographie" (Historical Geography)
Anna Regener
9 Commentary
Pratik Chakrabarti
Norman Henniges, Johannes Mattes, Marianne Klemun
2 "Our Earth Has Undeniably Suffered Some Great Revolutions": Johann Reinhold Forster and Scientific World-Making in Eighteenth-Century Natural History
Anne Mariss
3 Performing Science Between Laboratories and Glaciers
Dania Achermann
4 A Paradigm Shift? German Impact Crater Geology in Light of its Social/Political Context
Martina Koelbl-Ebert
5 "Very Early, the Enjoyment of Nature Research and Mountaineering Awoke in Me": Autobiographical Narratives of Lives in Earth Sciences (Early Twentieth Century, Vienna)
Sandra Klos
6 Willful Eyes and Hands: Transferring Theories into Mapmaking Knowledge in Justus Perthes' Geographical Establishment, ca. 1900-1930
Philipp Meyer
7 Vitrified Forts. Prehistoric Settlements as a Topic of Chemistry, Geology, and Early Archaeology in Scotland and Saxony (Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Century)
Susanne Grunwald
8 Bibliographic Data as Knowledge Proxies: Mapping Books and Tracing the Scientific Discipline of "Historische Geographie" (Historical Geography)
Anna Regener
9 Commentary
Pratik Chakrabarti