Publication Date:
2021-12-02
Description:
The aim of this research is to present the life and research of Alfred Rittmann (1893–1980).
He was an Earth scientist in the broadest sense: a petrographer, mineralogist,
magmatologist, tectonist, geodynamicist, planetologist, volcanologist and, what is more, a
philosopher of geosciences. He is considered the founder of contemporary, volcanology
by combining in his interdisciplinary research the study of volcanic phenomena at the
surface with tectonic activity and magmatology. In his books, Rittmann discussed the first
correlations between volcanism and tectonics; his geodynamic model comprises complex
studies of geology, volcanology, magmatology and geodynamics. We propose to name his
scientific worldview ‘Magmatological Tectonics’ (MT) and to describe it as a Kuhnian
paradigm. The leading concept of all geological processes is the fundamental law.
Rittmann also made abundant use of Chamberlin’s method, the method of multiple
working hypotheses. Some brief interpretations will be proposed regarding the importance
of Rittmann in the history of geosciences in the twentieth century and the emergence of
some philosophical problems deriving from this research.
Description:
Published
Description:
266–281
Description:
1V. Storia eruttiva
Description:
JCR Journal
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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