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This book provides insights into the evolution of geological ideas in Ireland; gives assessments of underrepresented scientists; and offers an appreciation of the value of geological collections for historical research.
Life on Earth can be traced back over 3,000 million years. Many examples of the Earth's past inhabitants are to be found in rocks, preserved as beautiful and fascinating fossils. The earliest life forms were bacteria and algae, which produced the oxygen that enabled more complex life forms to develop. About 600 million years ago, multi-cellular organisms appeared on Earth, some of which could protect themselves with hard parts, such as shells. Many of these life forms were readily fossilized and are used to subdivide geological time. Numerous species then evolved and most are now extinct. Lineages can be traced and extinctions explained as a consequence of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial e...
This volume addresses the most influential Victorian building in the city of Dublin and explores the new standard which it set in the use of Irish decorative stone, the employment of native craftsmen and the unprecedented eclecticism of its design. The geology, quarrying, building, carving and architectural design which created this spectacular structure are explored in a series of papers by established scholars and experts in the field. The book is richly illustrated in full colour to capture the sumptuous polychromy of the building and the profuse detail of its carved ornament.
The debate over the age of the Earth has been ongoing for over two thousand years, and has pitted physicists and astronomers against biologists, and religious philosophers against geologists. The Chronologers' Quest tells the fascinating story of our attempts to determine the age of the Earth. This book investigates the many novel methods used in the search for the Earth's age, from James Ussher and John Lightfoot examining biblical chronologies, and from Comte de Buffon and Lord Kelvin determining the length of time for the cooling of the Earth, to the more recent investigations of Arthur Holmes and Clair Patterson into radioactive dating of rocks and meteorites. The Chronologers' Quest is a readable account of the measurement of geological time. It will be of great interest to a wide range of readers, from those with little scientific background to students and scientists in a wide range of the Earth sciences.
Refinement and enrichment of surfaces in stone, wood and plaster is a fundamental aspect of early modern architecture which has been marginalised by architectural history. Enriching Architecture aims to retrieve and rehabilitate surface achievement as a vital element of early modern buildings in Britain and Ireland. Rejected by modernism, demeaned by the conceptual ‘turn’ and too often reduced to its representative or social functions, we argue for the historical legitimacy of creative craft skill as a primary agent in architectural production. However, in contrast to the connoisseurial and developmental perspectives of the past, this book is concerned with how surfaces were designed, ac...
Heritage stones are building and ornamental stones that have special significance in human culture. The papers in this volume discuss a wide variety of such materials, including stones from Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australia. Igneous (basalt, porphyry, granite), sedimentary (sandstone, limestone) and metamorphic (marble, quartzite, gneiss, soapstone, slate) stones are featured. These have been utilized over long periods of time for a wide range of uses contributing to the historic fabric of the built environment. Many of these stones are of international significance, and so are potential Global Heritage Stone Resources, that is stones that have the requisite qualities for international recognition by the Heritage Stones Subcommission of the International Union of Geological Sciences. The papers bring together diverse information on these stones ranging from their geological setting and quarry locations to mechanical properties, current availability, and uses over time. As such the papers can serve as an entry into the literature on these important stones.
In 1854, John Henry Newman, one of the foremost intellectual figures of the nineteenth century, was officially installed as the rector of the first Catholic university in Ireland. University Church (constructed in 1855–6) was Newman’s first objective when he agreed to the rectorship and it can be considered as a tangible manifestation of the idea behind the unprecedented Catholic university in Dublin – the posing of an erudite Catholic alternative to post-Enlightenment secularism and Protestant hegemony through a style-based analogy to the early Church. Despite physically embodying what Newman wished to achieve in and through his new university, this ‘early Christian' style church, w...
Biographies of more than 100 Irish scientists (or those with strong Irish connections), in the disciplines of Chemistry and Physics, including Astronomy, Mathematics etc., describing them in their Irish and international scientific, social, educational and political context. Written in an attractive informal style for the hypothetical 'educated layman' who does not need to have studied science. Well received in Irish and international reviews.
A comprehensible reference manual for palaeontologists on many aspects of their science. Topics discussed range from the esoteric, such as palaeoecology and preservation, to the practical, such as the storing of specimens and photography.
During the later Middle Ages (twelfth to fifteenth centuries), the study of chronology, astronomy, and scriptural exegesis among Christian scholars gave rise to Latin treatises that dealt specifically with the Jewish calendar and its adaptation to Christian purposes. In Medieval Latin Christian Texts on the Jewish Calendar C. Philipp E. Nothaft offers the first assessment of this phenomenon in the form of critical editions, English translations, and in-depth studies of five key texts, which together shed fascinating new light on the avenues of intellectual exchange between medieval Jews and Christians.