Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
continuous horizon. This is known as his principle of lateral conti-
nuity. His third principle was that of original horizontality, which said
that any horizon recognised to be sedimentary in origin (and thus
deposited in water), but now found at any angle, would originally
have been horizontal.
Steno's work flew in the face of general geological understanding
and belief at the time, which still relied largely on biblical teachings.
His concepts moulded the geological thinking of others who followed
him. While his ground-breaking ideas do not tell us anything about the
actual age of the Earth, Steno did not set out to discover this fact. But
his work did allow geology to progress and thinkers to begin to under-
stand the nature of the geological record. He showed, in short, that
geology does reveal a history.
'THE ENGLISH STENO'
Perhaps referring to Robert Hooke (1635-1703) as 'the English Steno'
is doing him a disservice; but he was ruminating on geological matters
at much the same time as Steno was reflecting on the hills of Tuscany,
and his conclusions are every bit as important as his Danish contem-
porary. Hooke has been unfortunate in that he has been largely over-
shadowed by his contemporaries Isaac Newton and the architect
Christopher Wren. Recently he has been in the ascendant - a natural
position given the celebrations of the three-hundredth anniversary of
his death. This was marked by the broadcasting in Britain of a televi-
sion documentary and the publication of at least four topics on his
life and work, one of which examined Hooke's hands-on role in the
phoenix-like reconstruction of London after the Great Fire - credit
that had hitherto been placed firmly at Wren's feet.
Robert Hooke was born in 1635, on 18 July, at Freshwater on the
Isle of Wight, close to the southernmost exposure of chalk in Britain.
His father was the local Church of England minister, but died young
when Robert was only thirteen. Hooke was then sent to London where
he served an apprenticeship under the artist Sir Peter Lely. Although
he found the smell of oil paint exacerbated his frequent headaches - he
