‘The most remarkable man’: James Croll, Quaternary scientist
Authors
Publication Date
2022-04Journal Title
Journal of Quaternary Science
ISSN
0267-8179
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
37
Issue
3
Pages
400-419
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AO
VoR
Metadata
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Edwards, K. J. (2022). ‘The most remarkable man’: James Croll, Quaternary scientist. Journal of Quaternary Science, 37 (3), 400-419. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3420
Abstract
ABSTRACT: The year 2021 marked the bicentenary of the birth of James Croll (1821–1890), the self‐educated son of a crofter‐stonemason, whose life was characterised by a dizzying range of occupations and homes, poor health and financial concerns, and yet he became a pioneer of orbital dynamics and ice age climate change with an impressive record of publication. Drawing upon archival information and recently published observations, this paper explores selected aspects of Croll's biography, his scientific connections and controversies, and that area of his life relevant to Quaternary science. He was a 19th century polymath whose multifaceted contributions have been a catalyst for subsequent systems‐based climate science on the grand scale, including the foundations for the seminal work of Milutin Milankovitch on the rhythms of Quaternary environmental change.
Keywords
Invited Review, biography, history of science, James Croll, Milutin Milankovitch, Quaternary science
Identifiers
jqs3420
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3420
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/335730
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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