Reef madness
Subtitle: Alexander Agassiz, Charles Darwin, and the meaning of coral
By: David Dobbs.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Pantheon
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 306
Subjects: Agassiz, Alexander, -- 1835-1910,; Coral reefs and islands; Science -- History -- 19th century; Natural history -- Philosophy
Description: This book examines, from a number of perspectives, a period of change in the nature of scientific thought, as represented in the 19th century debate over the formation of coral atolls and reefs between Charles Darwin and Alexander Agassiz, the son of Darwin's great opponent Louis Agassiz. Though the son opposed his father in siding with Darwin's theory of evolution, he made it his life's work to disprove Darwin's theory on coral; while ultimately shown to be incorrect, Agassiz's work laid the foundations of modern oceanography.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-288) and index.
Table of contents: title: Magpie; title: Neuchâtel; title: Freiburg; title: Cambridge; title: Fixity; title: Transmutation; title: Selection; title: A still greater sorrow; title: The pleasure of gambling; title: To light: Murray's reefs; title: A question of science; title: Accrual; title: "A conspiracy of silence"; title: To sea; title: The last archipelago; title: A connected account; title: Eniwetok.