The Fluid Envelope of Our Planet : How the Study of Ocean Currents Became a Science

Oceans have had a mysterious allure for centuries, inspiring fears, myths, and poetic imaginations. By the early twentieth century, however, scientists began to see oceans as physical phenomena that could be understood through mathematical geophysics. The Fluid Envelope of Our Planet explores the scientific developments from the early middle ages to the twentieth century that illuminated the once murky depths of oceanography. Tracing the transition from descriptive to mathematical analyses of the oceans, Eric Mills examines sailors' and explorers' observations of the oceans, the influence of Scandinavian techniques on German-speaking geographers, and the eventual development of shared quantitative practices and ideas. A detailed and beautifully written account of the history of oceanography, The Fluid Envelope of Our Planet is also an engaging account of the emergence of a scientific discipline. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: The Fluid Envelope of Our Planet 13 1 The Way of the Sea: Knowledge of Oceanic Circulation before the Nineteenth Century 22 2 Groping through the Darkness: The Problem of Deep Ocean Circulation 56 3 Boundaries Built with Numbers: Making the Ocean Mathematical 94 4 Evangelizing in the Wilderness: Dynamic Oceanography Comes to Canada 123 5 ‘Physische Meereskunde’: From Geography to Physical Oceanography in Berlin, 1900B1935 149 6 ‘Découverte de l’océan’: Monaco and the Failure of French Oceanography 174 7 Slipping away from Norway: Dynamic Oceanography Comes to the United States 204 8 Facing the Atlantic and the Pacific: Dynamic Oceanography Re-emerges in Canada, 1930–1950 244 9 Studying The Oceans and the Oceans 270 Appendix: Textbooks of Physical Oceanography 299 Notes 303 References 359 Index 431