Any of you old timers remember 60s, 70s all that awesome incoming Earth and solar system science information, Plate Tectonics, geology and Earth’s evolution and Moon’s origin, humanity and the diversity of life and what made it tick?
DNA was discovered a couple years before I was born and the shocked amazement was still rippling through schools during my grade school years. It was that transition when it still seemed like many of the big questions about the origins of man and life and the moon and the planets, were still unknowns and speculation.
Then one by one the scientific discoveries revolutionized understanding. The first one I remember was Plate Tectonics hitting the headlines and piecing together that story of moving continents in my imagination, then looking into the deepest depths of the oceans; Leaky and all who followed helping to unravel humans fascinating origins.
The moon, I can still remember it as the unachievable dream. At fourteen I was watching as those first steps went down and following visits unfolded and the moon never looked quite the same anymore.
That Christmas eve Earthrise picture hit me like only the first time for a teenager can, too bad that shared sense of amazed discovery will never come around again.
Then the two Voyager Missions and those planets finally became real individuals with characteristics we never got close to imagining. Then holy moly, who’d have thought the moon was a product of a collision; not only that, the moon was intimately linked to, if not the key to life developing here on Earth; and how about those Black Smokers at the bottom of the ocean, wow. We’re even getting a grasp on billions of year old mineral evolution and its intimate link to life processes. And you mean, that atmosphere is a product of evolution, wow.
Astounding, but have we learned anything important, like appreciating our home planet and wanting to nurture her?
I’m learning to understand that I probably wouldn’t know the half of it, if not for my early years when I fit on grandma’s lap and she’d go through her ancient Encyclopaedia Britannica, to entertain me with mysteries of mammoths and ice ages and dinosaurs, the horrors of polio and Salk’s child-saving and history changing discovery. Tours of planets when we barely had a clue and questions overwhelming known facts. It was fun and I was hooked on wanting to know those answers, like countless generations before. I have the feeling we fed off each other, she enjoyed the sharing and this little bundle of curiosity, I enjoyed the hearing and it lasted a nice little while until I outgrew her lap and moved onto other adventures.
I should also mention my mother who made sure we visited all the Chicago museums regularly and who admonished us children to breath deeply the fresh country air and savor how special it was, the same woman who would gaze upon the city and reminded us children to, Behold what two hands have achieved. She helped form children with a deep appreciation for this country and all it took to achieve what we have. My writing is driven by a desire to convey a sense of some of the wonders and amazements I have experienced.
It’s fun getting older, and how those forgotten recollections have a way of resurfacing and weaving themselves together into a coherent appreciation of how we got to be who we are.
Well, that was just supposed to be a short introduction, but sometimes I do get to rambling.
In any event, thought I’d toss out a few thoughts, see if anyone had any reflections of their own.
http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2015/03/2-lindzens-intrinsic-obtuseness.html#more (this is from an interview) 5:40 Professor Richard Lindzen says: Yeah, yeah, no I agree with you on that Alex. But, you know this began thirty, forty years ago on this subject. It's always been a matter of some curiosity exactly which political agency (giggling) was pushing it (climate and Earth studies).~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Why not a word about the International Geophysical Year 1957/58, or the hyper-growth driven by computer, satellite and observation platform development during the 60s, 70s? Not a word about the excitement there was in the air. We were learning about our vast planet like never before. All those centuries old questions and mysteries that we inherited, and that yearning curiosity about what this planet was all about. (I was most fortunate to have tasted the last days of that era as a youth, I'm not talking out-of a book.). Scientists finally had the tools at hand to tackle so many of the age old intractable questions regarding our planet, it's origins, geology, our evolution and our place in the universe. It was an exciting ride of discoveries and revelations. And now, within a few decades a new generation takes it all for granted and doesn't give it another thought. So sad. But, back to professor Lindzen, not a word about the fantastic age of discovery that it was. Nor any sort of recognition that these governmental initiatives were rational responses to our collective growing awareness of the realities of how fossil fuels burning was altering our atmosphere among a variety of other self-created problems. The Discovery of Global Warming A Hyperlinked History of Climate Change Science Spencer Weart & American Institute of Physics http://www.aip.org/history/climate/summary.htm ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The History of Climate Science by John Mason | 7, 2013 http://www.skepticalscience.com/history-climate-science.html
