U018
Transformative Discoveries, Technological Breakthroughs and Societal Challenges - Lessons from the Past as Guideposts to the Future
Transformative Discoveries, Technological Breakthroughs and Societal Challenges - Lessons from the Past as Guideposts to the Future
Session ID#: 160868
Session Description:
History shows that a single event or discovery can set a trajectory for a scientific discipline or even establish a new discipline. Plate tectonics provided a unifying theory that revolutionized Earth science. Recognition of the global thermohaline circulation highlighted the pivotal role of the oceans in the Earth’s climate. Catastrophic destruction of Antarctic ozone underscored the importance of chemical reactions in the atmosphere for habitability of the planet. Before the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, the Earth’s Van Allen Belts were unknown. From these and other discoveries have come fields of research and associated technologies that did not previously exist but are now regarded as part of mainstream Earth and Space Science. This session will highlight transformative discoveries across all of Earth and Space science (past), their subsequent impacts on the scientific enterprise (now), and implications for addressing societal challenges through solution-based science (future).
Index Terms:
1704 Atmospheric sciences [HISTORY OF GEOPHYSICS]
1724 Ocean sciences [HISTORY OF GEOPHYSICS]
1729 Planetology [HISTORY OF GEOPHYSICS]
1744 Tectonophysics [HISTORY OF GEOPHYSICS]
Primary Convener: Michael J McPhaden, NOAA/PMEL, Seattle, WA, United States
Conveners: Francis Macdonald, University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Earth Science, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, Imke De Pater, University of California, Berkeley, Departments of Astronomy and of Earth and Planetary Science, Berkeley, CA, United States and Eileen E Hofmann, Old Dominion University, Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Norfolk, VA, United States
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