Earth-Knowledge

Using a transdisciplinary approach, this book examines how scientific understanding of the Earth has been created, transformed, and shared across time – combining perspectives from the history of science, sociology of knowledge, and cultural studies to explore the evolution of Earth sciences.

Focusing on the practices, actors, and socio-cultural contexts that have shaped knowledge production, this volume offers fresh methodological insights and highlights the contributions of scientists, local experts, and non-specialist collaborators. Case studies range from Johann Reinhold Forster’s eighteenth-century mineralogical research to Cold War impact geology and interdisciplinary developments in ice core paleoclimatology.

Targeted at scholars, students, and general readers, this book provides an innovative lens for understanding the historical dimensions of Earth sciences, bridging disciplinary boundaries and uncovering new perspectives on production and exchange of knowledge.

Author Biography

Norman Henniges (Austrian Academy of Sciences) is a geographer and historian of knowledge and science (nineteenth to twentieth centuries). His research fields include historical geographies of global knowledge and the social and cultural history of geography, geology and cartography. His key publication is “Die Spur des Eises” (2017).

Johannes Mattes (University of Oslo) is a historian of knowledge and science focusing on Central and Eastern Europe from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries (geosciences, zoology, physics, medicine). His key publications include “Collaborative Research in Imperial Vienna” (2024) and “The Making of ‘Classical’ Karst” (2024).

Marianne Klemun (University of Vienna) is a historian of science (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries). Her research fields include cultures and political contexts of the history of natural history (geology, botany, gardens, travel, collecting and documentation). Key publication: with Spring (Eds.), “Scientific Expeditions as Experiments” (2016).