Advances in Geological Science, 1450-1699
Overview
During this period, the study of the Earth began to change dramatically from a nearly complete reliance on religion for an explanation of the Earth's features to the beginnings of a more scientific approach. Major steps in explaining the origins of the Earth, its age, the origins of the oceans, and the Earth's geologic features were taken by Agricola (1494-1555), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Thomas Burnet (1635?-1715), Nicolas Steno (1638-1686), Robert Hooke (1635-1703), and others. Although geology could not yet be considered a science, by the end of the seventeenth century, it was nearly at that point.
Background
Through most of recorded human history attempts have been made to explain how the Earth was formed and why it looks as it does. Every culture, it seems, has developed a creation myth, and many cultures invoked supernatural powers that formed the seas, pushed up mountains, and made the other features we see on Earth.
In the Western world, the best-known creation story is found in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. This book is common to the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religions and it holds that a single deity created the Earth, heavens, and ocean.
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