From The Royal Institution.
Find out how our understanding of the planet has been shaped by money.
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This talk was recorded at the Ri on 12 May 2025.
Many historians have thought that U.S. Navy funding of oceanography paved the way for plate tectonic theory. By funding extensive investigations of the deep ocean, Navy support enabled scientists to discover and understand sea-floor magnetic stripes, the association of the deep trenches with deep-focus earthquakes, and other key features. Historian of science and geologist Naomi Oreskes presents a different view: the major pieces of plate tectonic theory were in place in the 1930s, and military secrecy in fact prevented the coalescence of plate tectonics, delaying it for three decades.
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Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. She has worked on studies of geophysics, climate change and the history of science. She sits on the board of US based not-for-profit organisations the National Center for Science Education and Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. She is a distinguished speaker and has published 10 books, including Science on a Mission and The Big Myth.
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