Curated category
Earth sciences
- PaleontologyIn 1796, Georges Cuvier published a paper titled On the species of living and fossil elephants that changed how scientists viewed life on Earth.
- GeophysicsGeophysics emerged as a distinct scientific discipline in the 19th century, though its roots stretch back to ancient observations of magnetic needles and…
- GeographyThe oldest known world map dates to the 9th century BC in ancient Babylon. This early artifact shows a circular landmass surrounded by a bitter river called…
- GeomorphologyGrove Karl Gilbert studied the landscapes of the Blue Gate pass in Utah with intense focus during 1875 and 1876. His notebooks from that period form an…
- OceanographyIn 1497, Vasco da Gama departed from Lisbon on a voyage that would redefine global trade routes. His ship spent three months in the open South Atlantic to…
- Earth's energy budgetThe Sun delivers energy to Earth at a rate measured in watts, creating a constant flow that defines our planet's climate.
- Giant-impact hypothesisIn 1898, George Darwin proposed that Earth and the Moon were once a single body. He suggested a molten Moon had been spun from Earth due to centrifugal…
- Global surface temperatureThe blue line on a graph represents global surface temperature reconstructed over the last 2,000 years using proxy data from tree rings, corals, and ice…
- EarthThe Modern English word Earth developed from an Old English noun most often spelled ertha. This term has cognates in every Germanic language, tracing back to…
- History of lifeThe Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago, a date derived from the oldest meteorite fragments found on our planet and ancient lead deposits.
- Ocean heat contentOcean heat content describes the thermodynamic potential energy stored within seawater. Scientists define this value using the equation of state for seawater.