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Explore how military funding and secrecy influenced the development of plate tectonic theory in this 48-minute lecture by historian of science and geologist Naomi Oreskes. Challenge the conventional narrative that U.S. Navy funding of oceanography directly enabled the discovery of plate tectonics through investigations of sea-floor magnetic stripes and deep ocean trenches. Discover instead how the major components of plate tectonic theory were already established in the 1930s, and learn how military secrecy actually hindered scientific progress by preventing the coalescence of these ideas for three decades. Examine the complex relationship between scientific funding, military interests, and the advancement of geological understanding through this alternative historical perspective on one of geology's most fundamental theories. Gain insights into how financial and political factors can both accelerate and impede scientific discovery, presented by a Harvard University professor who specializes in the history of science and geophysics.
