Since
our earliest history, we have been curious about the earth we live
on and the skies that shelter us. The Greeks imposed their stories
on the configurations of the stars and animated the forces of nature
with jealousies, loves, and hates. The naturalists of the 19th century
set aside those early musings, recording their observations with
detail, accuracy, and in some cases prodigious volume, laying the
groundwork for the earth and planetary sciences. So while our wonder
is ancient, our science is still new.
As the first
major center of academic geology in the western United States, Berkeley's
Department of Earth and Planetary Science has a well established
tradition of tackling perplexing questions, some abstract and distant,
some that directly intersect with our daily lives. Our faculty has
been involved in some of the most important academic advancements
in the science, making the first detailed study of a major earthquake,
developing potassium-argon dating, advancing the use of thermodynamics
in geology, and discovering the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs-a
comet.
Earth and Planetary
Science is inherently interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. We
encourage and practice collaboration with Chemistry, Physics, Engineering,
Astronomy, Biology, and other departments. Accordingly the interests
of the faculty are diverse, spanning early geologic time, the inner
mantle of the earth's core, the earth's evolving surfacethe oceans,
the ozone layer, and the planets, and. We encourage our students,
both undergraduate and graduate, to build a solid foundation in
the fundamental sciences of mathematics, physics and chemistry as
they build their intellectual interests and develop the scope of
their research.
As our earth
changes, as our water changes, as our climate changes and the ice
caps melt, as the atmosphere that protects us changes, the discipline
of Earth and Planetary Science has never been more relevant, and
its study have never been more compelling.
Further information
on the department, including faculty, degrees offered, admission
policies, courses, analytical labs and shops, and research units
within or associated with our department may be found at this web
site.
William E. Dietrich
Chair of the Department
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