Grove Karl Gilbert: A Great Engine of Research (American Land & Life)

As Stephen Pyne reveals in his biography, few other scientists can match Grove Karl GilbertвЂTMs range of talents. A premier explorer of the American West who made major contributions to the cascade of new discoveries about the earth, Gilbert described two novel forms of mountain building, invented the concept of the graded stream, inaugurated modern theories of lunar origin, helped found the science of geomorphology, and added to the canon of conservation literature. В В В Gilbert knew most of geology's grand figures--including John Wesley Powell, Clarence Dutton,В and Clarence King--and Pyne's chronicle of the imperturbable, quietly unconventional Gilbert is couterpointed with sketches of these prominent scientists. The man who wrote that ''happiness is sitting under a tent with walls uplifted, just after a brief shower,'', created answers to the larger questions of the earth in ways that have become classics of his science. Contents......Page 6 Author’s Note to the Paperback Edition......Page 8 Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 12 1. In a Nutshell......Page 18 The Education of a Classicist......Page 20 A Clerk in the Cosmos......Page 26 Of Mastodons and Mathematics: The Cohoes Potholes......Page 32 Cracking the Nutshell......Page 35 A Volunteer Assistant......Page 37 “Labels written by the Creator”: John Strong Newberry......Page 43 “Hydrographical peculiarities”......Page 49 West with Wheeler......Page 52 “A systematic approach”: The Geology of a Reconnaissance......Page 66 The Lieutenant and the Major......Page 72 “The western fever”......Page 79 By Virtue of Its Ensemble: Powell, Dutton, Gilbert......Page 87 “Certain allied problems in mechanics”: The Henry Mountains......Page 98 Languages for a New Geology: Mechanics, Mathematics, Literature......Page 110 The Society of a Geologist......Page 118 The Division of the Great Basin......Page 123 The Revolving Chair: Chief Geologist of the U.S.Geological Survey......Page 128 The Scientist as Aristocrat: George Ferdinand Becker......Page 141 Lake Bonneville......Page 149 Time’s Ratio: The Meaning of Geologic History......Page 160 “A little daft on the subject of the moon”......Page 167 The Great Basin Mess......Page 175 A “buried star”......Page 182 The Mean Plain......Page 194 The Inculcation of Scientific Method......Page 201 The Text for a University Science: Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin......Page 208 An Elder Statesman......Page 216 Geophysics in the Giant Forest......Page 218 Gilbert the Glaciologist......Page 234 Gilbert the Geophysicist......Page 241 Gilbert the Geomorphologist......Page 251 The Cycle of Erosion: William Morris Davis......Page 269 A New Life......Page 277 Notes......Page 284 Sources......Page 306 Biographical Memoirs......Page 310 Index......Page 311 "Even though race influenced how Americans envisioned, represented, and shaped the American West, discussions of its history devalue the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities. In this history of marginalized peoples in Idaho, Robert T. Hayashi views the West from a different perspective by detailing the ways in which they shaped the western landscape and its meaning." "As an easterner, researcher, angler, and third-generation Japanese American traveling across the contemporary Idaho landscape - where his grandfather died during internment during World War II - Hayashi reconstructs a landscape that lured emigrants of all races at the same time its ruling forces were developing cultured processes that excluded nonwhites. Using a wide range of materials that include memoirs, oral interviews, poetry, legal cases, letters, government documents, and even road signs, Hayashi illustrates how Thomas Jefferson's vision of an agrarian, all-white, and democratic West affected the Gem State's Nez Perce, Chinese, Shoshone, Mormon, and particularly Japanese residents."--BOOK JACKET

As Stephen Pyne reveals in his biography, few other scientists can match Grove Karl Gilbert’s range of talents. A premier explorer of the American West who made major contributions to the cascade of new discoveries about the earth, Gilbert described two novel forms of mountain building, invented the concept of the graded stream, inaugurated modern theories of lunar origin, helped found the science of geomorphology, and added to the canon of conservation literature.
    Gilbert knew most of geology's grand figures—including John Wesley Powell, Clarence Dutton,  and Clarence King—and Pyne's chronicle of the imperturbable, quietly unconventional Gilbert is couterpointed with sketches of these prominent scientists. The man who wrote that "happiness is sitting under a tent with walls uplifted, just after a brief shower,", created answers to the larger questions of the earth in ways that have become classics of his science.

As Stephen Pyne reveals in his biography, few other scientists can match Grove Karl Gilbert's range of talents. A premier explorer of the American West who made major contributions to the cascade of new discoveries about the earth, Gilbert described two novel forms of mountain building, invented the concept of the graded stream, inaugurated modern theories of lunar origin, helped found the science of geomorphology, and added to the canon of conservation literature.
Gilbert knew most of geology's grand figures--including John Wesley Powell, Clarence Dutton, and Clarence King--and Pyne's chronicle of the imperturbable, quietly unconventional Gilbert is couterpointed with sketches of these prominent scientists. The man who wrote that "happiness is sitting under a tent with walls uplifted, just after a brief shower, ", created answers to the larger questions of the earth in ways that have become classics of his science.