Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Raison d’etre
1.2 A language for new sciences
1.3 Quantifying the evolution of ‘geophysics’
1.4 Geophysical journals
1.5 Bibliographical note
Chapter 2. Terrestrial magnetism I. Understanding the magnetic field – from mystification to quantification
2.1 Lodestones and the earliest magnetic compasses
2.2 The terrella
2.3 Gilbert’s treatise
2.4 Magnetic declination
2.5 Long-term changes in declination
2.6 Halley’s four-pole model
2.7 Daily changes in declination
2.8 Magnetic inclination
2.9 Magnetic intensity
2.10 A technological breakthrough
2.11 Coulomb’s torsion balance
2.12 Magnetic currents
2.13 Changes in magnetic force in time and space
2.14 Legendre, Gauss and the method of least squares
2.15 Gauss and geomagnetism
2.16 Final proof of the inverse-square law
Chapter 3. Terrestrial magnetism II. Into the field
3.1 Geomagnetic maps and the terrestrial magnetic field
3.2 Changes in the field with time
3.3 Rock magnetism
3.4 Mineral exploration
3.5 Return to the sea
Chapter 4. Applied electrical and electromagnetic methods
4.1 Natural earth-currents and self-potential
4.2 Artificial currents and the search for ore
4.3 Electro-magnetic prospecting begins
4.4 From radio to radar
4.5 From ore-bodies to salt domes
4.6 Minerals again
Chapter 5. Gravity surveying and the ‘Figure of the Earth’ from Newton to CHAMP
5.1 The length of a seconds pendulum
5.2 Arc lengths and ellipticity
5.3 Spheroid shape and pendulum measurements
5.4 The attraction of mountains
5.5 The torsion balance and other methods
5.6 Gravity corrections, regional gravity-mapping and the concept of isostasy
5.7 From the Eötvös torsion-balance to the gravimeter
5.8 Pendulums at sea
5.9 The arrival of the gravimeter
5.10 Vibrating strings
5.11 Free-falling corner-cubes
5.12 Superconduction
5.13 Borehole gravimetry
5.14 Airborne gravimetry
5.15 Gravity gradiometers
5.16 Into space
Chapter 6. Shaking the Earth: from volcanology to seismic surveys
6.1 Volcanoes
6.2 Earthquakes
6.3 Mapping the frequency of earthquake occurrence
6.4 Earthquake distribution in time
6.5 Instrumental detection of earthquakes
6.6 Earthquake magnitude
6.7 The modern era
6.8 Locating the origin of an earthquake
6.9 Understanding the deep Earth
6.10 The beginnings of seismic prospecting
Chapter 7. The heat of the Earth
7.1 Early history of heat-measuring instruments
7.2 Near-surface geothermal measurements
7.3 Temperatures in mines and deep boreholes
7.4 Heat-flow through the continents and the seafloor
7.5 How to explain the Earth’s heat?
Chapter 8. Aspects of geodynamics
8.1 From mechanics to the solid Earth
8.2 A layered Earth
8.3 The enigma of mountain chains
8.4 The viscosity of the Earth
8.5 Isostasy
8.6 Have the continents moved?
8.7 Convection within the Earth
8.8 Tides, tilts and strains
Chapter 9. Radioactivity
9.1 From waste-tip to colourant
9.2 Early sources of uranium
9.3 Early sources of thorium
9.4 Towards radioactivity
9.5 Early investigations: radioactivity in nature
9.6 Development of measuring instruments
9.7 The search for uranium
9.8 Nuclear well-logging
9.9 The source of the Earth’s heat
9.10 Geochronology
Subject index
Person index