| [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Thread Index] | [Date Prev] | [Date Next] | [Date Index] |
Dear colleagues, Paleontology is the only science of which I am aware that periodically tries to change its name, in the process implying that it used to be old fashioned but is now hip. Can you imagine, for example, physicists doing that? When Einstein discovered relativity and brought about the paradigm shift in physics, no one, so far as I am aware, suggested that they give physics a new name because it was no longer about sliding blocks down inclined planes. Genetics is still genetics, even with the discovery of DNA. Biology is still the study of organisms. Geobiology means different things to different people, reason enough to avoid it. One use of the term seems to stem from a sort of physics envy. There is geophysics and geochemistry, both parts of geology. Why then, the argument seems to go, should we not change the name of paleontology to geobiology to make us sound more in line with these other fields of science. We renamed ourselves in part a couple of decades ago when we decided that paleobiology means something other from paleontology. Now we have added geobiology, a term that clearly means different things to different people. We run the risk of confusing people about what our field is, what our societies are all about, and what we paleontologists do. Recently my department conducted a search for a new faculty member with a research emphasis in paleoecology (a branch of paleontology, of course). One of my geology-faculty colleagues, who should have known better, said, "Well, we certainly do not want to employ a paleontologist in this position!" She was confused because we have too often implied that paleontology is something old fashioned, like pre-Einstein physics or pre-DNA genetics. I suggest we refer to ourselves as paleontologists and let our science encompass new areas as they arise, including the interaction of microbes with the lithosphere, ancient life-even when it occurs on other planets, and other exciting new areas in the history of life. Best wishes, Roger Roger L. Kaesler Paleontological Institute-University of Kansas Lindley Hall 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 121 Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7613 (785) 864-3338 = telephone (785) 864-5276 = FAX kaesler@ku.edu = e-mail http://www.ukans.edu/~paleo/ It is our job as editors to find meaning where none was intended.
Partial index: