Nicholas Steno (1638-1686)

Spatial concepts:

layer, stratum

This site provides information about Nicholas Steno, the Father of Stratigraphy, whose work on the formation of rock layers and the fossils they contain was crucial to the development of modern geology. The principles he stated continue to be used today by geologists and paleontologists. Steno along with contemporaries Robert Hooke and John Ray was able to link tongue stones with sharks teeth and thus argued that fossils were the remains of once-living organisms. This lead to the eventual development of the principle of original horizontality and the law of superposition.

Resource URL:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/steno.html

Publisher:

University of California Museum of Paleontology

Cataloged by:

DLESE Community Collection

Subject(s):

Geologic time

History and philosophy of science

Science

Earth science

Physical sciences

Geology

History of science

Natural history

Paleontology

Astronomy

Space sciences

Geoscience

History/Policy/Law

Space Science

Resource type(s):

Text

Reference Material

Ed level(s):

High School

Undergraduate (Lower Division)

Higher Education

Graduate/Professional

Language(s):

English