Shifting Paradigms:Why History Matters in Geological Sciences

Geology as a scientific enterprise emerged in the 18th century, both at intellectual and commercial levels, as an exploitive tool in the hands of imperial powers to locate and assess natural resources, and it eventually evolved into a post-modernistic manifestation of an all-embracing science of sustainability, called Earth-system science. Following the timeline of geology, which began as a classical scientific discipline, we see a prime example of a socially embedded science that goes through various cycles of growth pangs and transitions during its evolution concomitant with epochal changes in social perspectives. This article explores how geology as a scientific discipline evolved to its present status.