Biological Oceanography : : An Early History. 1870 - 1960 / / Eric Mills.

• VerfasserIn: Mills, Eric,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (416 p.)

First published in 1989, Eric L. Mills's comprehensive history of biological oceanography has been praised as 'superb' (BioScience) and 'proof that history need not be dull' (The Northern Mariner). This first history of the field, which chronicles the scientific work and creativity of its chief contributors, tells a riveting story that is far from narrowly scientific and thoroughly accessible to general readers. Mills shows how the work and ideas of the main actors are inseparable from some seemingly unrelated factors, including Prussian imperialism, agricultural chemistry, microbiology, and the problems of German universities. Mills also illustrates the significant roles played in the field's development by the failures of commercial fisheries, the development of analytical chemistry, the establishment of international scientific organizations, and sheer scientific curiosity.This new edition of Biological Oceanography includes a fresh introduction by the author, as well as an original foreword by noted oceanographer John Cullen. It makes an excellent companion to Mills's recent history of mathematical and physical oceanography, the multi-award-winning and widely acclaimed The Fluid Envelope of Our Planet.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FOREWORD -- NOTES -- INTRODUCTION TO THE 2012 EDITION -- NOTES -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- TABLES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- Introduction: The Development of Biological Oceanography -- PART 1. The Origin of Biological Oceanography in Germany and Scandinavia during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries -- 1. "This Blood of the Sea": The Origin of Quantitative Plankton Biology in Germany, 1870-1911 -- 2. The Control of Metabolism in the Sea: Karl Brandt, the Nitrogen Cycle, and the Origin of Brandt's Hypothesis -- 3. International Oceanography, the Kiel School, and the Fate of Brandt's Hypothesis -- 4. "The Water Blooms": The Discovery of the Spring Bloom and Its Control -- 5. Hydrography and the Control of Plankton Abundance: Solving the Problem of Plankton Blooms -- 6. The End of an Era: The Demise of the Kiel Schoo -- PART 2. Biological Oceanography in Britain and the United States, 1921-1960 -- 7. Food from the Sea: The Origin of British Biological Oceanography -- 8. Surveying the Blue Pasture: Plankton Dynamics at Plymouth, 1921-1933 -- 9. Plankton Production and Its Control: The Marine Ecosystem at Plymouth, 1934-1958 -- 10. Appreciating Mathematics: The Origin of Plankton Modeling in the United States, 1934-1946 -- 11. Disciplined Thinking in Biological Oceanography: Plankton Dynamics, Physical Oceanography, and Riley's "Synthetic Method" -- Conclusion: The End of One Tale and the Beginning of Another -- REFERENCES -- INDEX