Talk:Plate Tectonics Revolution

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The Wikipedia article for plate tectonics currently does not have much information about the social change which followed the advent of the theory. There are many social stories about the advent of plate tectonics as a theory, and there are sources dating from the 1970s at least which called the advent of plate tectonics theory as a "revolution". Sources use the name "Plate Tectonics Revolution" as an event with its own history and consequences.

Aside from the field of geology, right now in 2018 there is increasing talk about the field of data science and its origins in plate tectonics. The narrative goes that plate tectonics has a basis in many scientists and organizations sharing large amounts of data in an unprecedented way when previously there was less culture for sharing data. The examination of this shared data made it possible to recruit broad acceptance of the theory, so not only was plate tectonics a revolution in geology, but also it was a revolution in social collaboration in science, and in data science, in international communication, and in open science.

I posted what sources I have here and I am not sure how all the sources frame the social side of this. I have not read all of this, but I think I have enough here to establish a Wikipedia article and present a basis for anyone else to develop further.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  15:55, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

List of revolutionaries
I have no idea which scientists get credit for advancing this theory. I posted some names in a section of this article. I have no sources. If anyone has a source with a list of people whose theories get credit for establishing the field then please share.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  17:13, 31 March 2018 (UTC)


 * Alfred Wegener didn't get much support from the physicists because he made no suggestion as to how the continent could move; plowing through the ocean crust somehow was not very tenable. It had to be put together with new evidence on the nature of the sea floor (young, forever turning over). Generally, the Frederick Vine and Drummond Matthews paper gets credit as the first publication of that synthesis. Lawrence Morley tried to publish at the same time, but got his paper repeatedly rejected; a pretty good example against the great man theory of scientific progress. Vine–Matthews–Morley hypothesis, the article about that synthesis, has the sources I think you want. There's more puzzle pieces at Timeline of the development of tectonophysics (before 1954) and Timeline of the development of tectonophysics (after 1952). HLHJ (talk) 03:29, 27 May 2018 (UTC)

Deletion / merge?
An IP user proposed a deletion or merge of this to Plate_tectonics. Maybe! One reason to do the split is that the other article is ~70k when WP:Article size says to split articles over 60k. Should we move that content here? Another reason is that the "development" content is about the history of the theory. This article is about the changes which took place after the theory because of the theory, particularly in science philosophy, data science, and open science unrelated to geography.

Thoughts from anyone?  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  12:03, 20 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Further discussed at Talk:Plate_tectonics. fgnievinski (talk) 05:10, 25 November 2021 (UTC)