Imaging Spectrometry Basic Principles and Prospective Applications
A significant step forward in the world of earth observation was made with the development of imaging spectrometry. Imaging spectrometers measure reflected solar radiance from the earth in many narrow spectral bands. Such a spectroscopical imaging system
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Quarterly journal ofthe Geological Society of London 25, xlvi-xlvii (1869) A shorr extract from Thomas Huxley's address
to
the Geological Society
10
1869, just ten years after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin ofSpecies,
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346
Postscript-The Hammer and the Pendulum
was quoted in Section 2.8. The rather longer quorarion from rhe same section given above enables us to see JUSt how perceptive Darwin's "bulldog" was, in recognizing thar the course of evolution must have involved catastrophic events as well as gradualist processes, all operating within the framework of natural laws. However, his wise words were ignored for well over a century, during which time it was thought that the only mechanisms worthy of consideration were rhose consistent with gradualism. Only now, at long last, is it becoming possible I(lr debates about the contribution of catastrophism to evolutionary ptocesses to take place in a proper, open-minded, fashion. That is not to say that they are always conducted in an atmosphere of sweet reasonableness for, as with any academic discussion where there is more than one school of thought and particularly where, as here, fundamentally different worldviews are involved, passions continue to be aroused and prejudices displayed. Nevertheless, they are happening, and that in itself is a step forward. No one can now suggest, and retain any credibility, that carastrophist mechanisms should, as a matter ofprinciple, be excluded from consideration. All arguments, whether catastrophist or gradualist, have to be judged on equal terms, by testing them against the evidence. That is as it should be. Without any question, debates over the past 15 years about the possible influence of catastrophism on evolution have proved consistently lively and increasingly productive. Let us hope the same is true of the next 15 years. Despite the recent advances, there are still an enormous number of questions that need to be answered.
References Chapter 1 1. 2. 3.
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