May 12 is International Women in Mathematics Day. Danish seismologist Inge Lehman developed a mathematical model based on her research on seismic waves, demonstrating that #Earth has a solid inner core 🌍
May 5, 1818, birthday of German philosopher Karl #Marx. His thoughts on #economy & #society may be well known, but Marx was actually also interested in #geology & copied some geological drawings for personal use - like the basalt cliffs of Staffa, Scotland ⚒️☭
“I would never apologize for photographing rocks. Rocks can be very beautiful…” 🪨📷
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West 🏞️📷
April 4, 1906, lava flows coming from a fissure mark the beginning of the most violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the 20th century. The lava reaches various nearby villages & the city of Naples. 227 people perish in the disaster🌋
April 4, 1980, explosions at Mt St. Helens send plumes upward from the crater almost hourly. Ash is reported in and near Tacoma. Authorities start to close roads to keep curious tourists away 🌋
Happy #Geologist's Day to whoever celebrates it!⚒️
Began in the mid 60’s in the former USSR and technically falls on the 1st Sunday of April. It was eventually adopted by other countries, many now celebrate it around April 2nd.
There is even a (very sowjet) "Geologist's Hymn"...
March 31, 1906, #Chicago is invaded by hordes of prehistoric monsters dealing death and destruction...
at least according to the 'Tribune's #April Fool's Day issue 🏙️🦖🦕
UNESCO’s Executive Board has endorsed the addition of 18 sites to the UNESCO Global Geoparks network.
The sites include geological features or landscapes found in Brazil, China, France, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Spain and Portugal.
This brings the total number of geoparks to 213 in 48 countries.
March 22, 1831, German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe died #OTD, but he was also interested in earth sciences.
The common iron-hydroxide mineral Goethite was named after him 💎
March 20, 1962, died #OTD, American astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglas. Recognizing the influence of solar input on tree growth, he uses ancient wood samples to date 2 archaeological sites, the beginning of #dendrochronology 🌲
March 9, 1847, Mary Anning dies #OTD aged just 47. Carpenter daughter, she founded a fossil business in Lyme Regis, Dorset, making important discoveries like complete skeletons of Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus and the flying reptile Dimorphodon 🦴
February 27, 2015, actor Leonard Simon #Nimoy passed away #OTD. Famous for his role as Commander #Spock in the TV-series #StarTrek 🌌 he gave us some volcan philosophical gems like "You must be one with the #rock" 🪨🖖
February 25, 1961, "Reptilicus the Terrible" is released, features a mutated #dragon-#dinosaur- thing regenerated from fossil tissue discovered during drilling for oil. Some say it is the best dinosaur movie ever made, the rest is wrong 🦖
February 24, 2014, a 4.4 billion-year-old Zircon crystal from Western Australia’s Jack Hills region is announced to be the oldest known mineral on #Earth (with Earth being ~4.51 billion years old) 🇦🇺💎
February 22, 1881, Cleopatra's Needle, a 3.500-year-old Egyptian obelisk, is erected in Central Park, New York. After surviving 1.000 years in the dry desert, it showed strong weathering in just 100 years caused by the humid climate & air pollution in the city.
February 22, 2011, Christchurch is rocked by a M6.2 #earthquake killing 185 people. The damage was considerable because the quake originated only 6km from the city center.
Photo shows squeezed railroad tracks from the November 2010 Darfield 7.1 quake
“I would never apologize for photographing rocks. Rocks can be very beautiful…”
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West 🪨📷
February 19, 1792, birthday of Roderick Impey Murchison, geologized in old #Scotland 🏴⚒️
Based on his observations of #fossils he proposed a new geologic period later to become the Silurian and Devonian.
February 17, 1740, birthday of Swiss naturalist Horace Benedict de Saussure. He studied the #Alps ⛰️ and was the first to geologize on the summit of Mont Blanc in 1787, describing alpine-type crystals found there💎
February 8, 1828, birthday of French author Jules #Verne.
In 1864 he described a journey to #Earth's center based on the geological knowledge of his time & his imagination. Some of his #fiction - like caves of giant crystals - became later #science 💎
February 7, 1784, the Laki eruption on #Iceland, one of the largest basaltic fissure eruptions in recorded history and the deadliest volcanic eruption in Icelandic history, ends after 8 months of activity 🌋🇮🇸
