Postwar Surprises - Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences - page 95

er with Edward Bullard, worked on magnetometers for minesweepers. After the
war, Blackett set up a research group on paleomagnetism at the University of
Manchester. In order to learn the rudiments of geology, like a generation of British
scientists, he read “Holmes.” Blackett's student Stanley Runcorn focused on the
origin of the Earth's magnetic field, but like his mentor, he soon turned to what
proved a much more fruitful field: paleomagnetism. In 1950 Runcorn won a posi-
tion in the Department of Geodesy and Geophysics at Cambridge, where he set up
his own research group.
The early years of paleomagnetism provide a textbook example of science at
its best. Its practitioners systematically invented clever tests to address each of
the method's potential flaws. They debated one another in journal pages and in
private correspondence, applying “strategies in a self-critical way against their
own work, anticipating difficulties that did or could emerge, thereby strengthening
their own position,” as Frankel writes. 6 Instead of waving arms, the paleomagnet-
ists proffered data.