James Hutton’s “Theory of the Earth” (1788)

David Oldroyd

doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2000/v23i3/007

HOME Article View

Classic Papers

Episodes 2000; 23(3): 196-202

Published online September 1, 2000

https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2000/v23i3/007

James Hutton’s “Theory of the Earth” (1788)

David Oldroyd

The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, AUSTRALIA

Correspondence to:David Oldroyd,
Secretary-General, INHIGEO,
Honorary Visiting Professor, School of Science and Technology Studies,
The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, AUSTRALIA
Tel: 61 2 9449 5559;
Fax: 61 2 9144 4529;
E-mail: <D.Oldroyd@unsw.edu.au>

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The International Commission for the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO) has been invited by the IUGS to publish a series of articles on papers of fundamental importance in the history of geology. The articles will consist of extracts from “classic” papers, together with exegesis or commentary, and background biographical or cultural information as appropriate. Some secondary sources will also be listed, and bibliographical information concerning the papers will be provided as appropriate. Most topics will be selected from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but James Hutton’s foundational “Theory of the Earth” paper (1788) has been selected to start off the series. The series will not, however, follow strict chronological order.