Re: paleonet Re: Geobiology

["John Athersuch" <au08@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hooray hooray!!  Roger you've hit the nail on the head!! (Sorry that's
carpentry!!).


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kaesler, Roger L" <kaesler@ku.edu>
To: <paleonet@nhm.ac.uk>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 6:42 PM
Subject: RE: paleonet Re: Geobiology


> 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.
>
>
>