Life in Deep Time: Darwin’s “Missing” Fossil Record

Life in Deep Time: Darwin’s “Missing” Fossil Record
ISBN-10
0429762887
ISBN-13
9780429762888
Category
Science
Pages
230
Language
English
Published
2018-11-05
Publisher
CRC Press
Author
J. William Schopf

Description

When Darwin wrote his Origin of Species, one of his main concerns was with the perceived shortness of the fossil record of life. Until the work of J. William Schopf and his colleagues, much of this history was thought to be unknowable. This book, through a memoire of Schopf’s personal recollections, documents astonishing discoveries revealing the first 85% of the history of life. These earliest periods of life on Earth emerge as a tale of individual and internationally collaborative exploration told by a scholar whose 60 years of research contributed to the recognition of the richness and diversity which forms the foundation of today’s biodiversity. Key Features Documents, through personal narrative, a paradigm shift is the study of the earliest life Summarizes a fossil record largely unknown until relatively recently Addresses one of Darwin's most troubling concerns about his theory of natural selection Predicts future developments in the study of first life

Similar books