Tag Archives: history

The Old Bird Sits Up

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Readers of this blog know that I have sometimes pointed at Emperor Lord Kelvin’s fragile suit of clothing. Although his early life was crammed with brilliant science, he was a fumbling troglodyte by age 50.  He became resistant to scientific … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, How Geophysics Works, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Conversation with the Earth

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Ron Miksha

How many of us recognize the most important moment in our career? The instant when you realize exactly what you should work on, even if you don’t know where that might lead. It happened to a young theoretical physicist. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, People, Philosophy, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

A Bad Day at the Beach

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Today marks the death of Gaius Plinius Secundus, aka Pliny the Elder. He died along with 20,000 of his friends and neighbors. On August 24, 79, Mount Vesuvius exploded and Pompeii and Herculaneum were no more. From the book, The … Continue reading →

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Earth Rising

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Ron Miksha

I was a child when the first photograph of the Earth, as seen from orbit around the Moon, arrived at NASA. Lunar Orbiter 1 was up there, scouting places for a future landing party of American astronauts. As an afterthought, … Continue reading →

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Who’s Got Mantle?

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Ron Miksha

NASA has reprocessed the Apollo missions’ old lunar seismic data. The data is from 1969 through 1977, the latter being recorded by equipment still active long after the last astronaut went home. This is old seismic data. Reprocessed, it tells … Continue reading →

Posted in History, How Geophysics Works, Space | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Seismic Saves the World

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Remarkable that we haven’t blown the planet to bits with an atomic bomb.  Not yet, anyway. An atmospheric nuclear test ban went in effect August 5, 1963. Exactly 51 years ago today. And almost 20 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki … Continue reading →

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Alaska knows something

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Ron Miksha

  Alaska is taking credit for proving plate tectonics.  OK, that’s an exaggeration. 50 years ago, in March 1964, an incredibly powerful 9.2 Magnitude earthquake shook Alaska.  We are being told that “the quake proved a theory that was just … Continue reading →

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SWARM of Magnetism

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Ron Miksha

The popular press has been fretting about the impending demise of our protective magnetic field.  Rightly so. We can expect all sorts of nasties when the field fails. The European Space Agency recently placed a “swarm” of magnetism-sensing satellites in … Continue reading →

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