Background
Webb, George Ernest was born on June 17, 1952 in Salem, Ohio, United States. Son of James Cecil and Edna Jeanette (Santee) Webb.
( As a site of scientific activity, the Southwest may be ...)
As a site of scientific activity, the Southwest may be best known for atomic research at Los Alamos and astronomical observations at Kitt Peak. But as George Webb shows, these twentieth-century endeavors follow a complex history of discovery that dates back to Spanish colonial times, and they point toward an exciting future. Ranging broadly over the natural and human sciences, Webb shows that the Southwest—specifically Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas—began as a natural laboratory that attracted explorers interested in its flora, fauna, and mineral wealth. Benjamin Silliman's mining research in the nineteenth century, for example, marked the development of the region as a colonial outpost of American commerce, and A. E. Douglass's studies of climatic cycles through tree rings attest to the rise of institutional research. World War II and the years that followed brought more scientists to the region, seeking secluded outposts for atomic research and clear skies for astronomical observations. What began as a colony of the eastern scientific establishment soon became a self-sustaining scientific community. Webb shows that the rise of major institutions—state universities, observatories, government labs—proved essential to the growth of Southwest science, and that government support was an important factor not only in promoting scientific research at Los Alamos but also in establishing agricultural and forestry experiment stations. And in what had always been a land of opportunity, women scientists found they had greater opportunity in the Southwest than they would have had back east. All of these factors converged at the end of the last century, with the Southwest playing a major role in NASA's interplanetary probes. While regionalism is most often used in studying culture, Webb shows it to be equally applicable to understanding the development of science. The individuals and institutions that he discusses show how science was established and grew in the region and reflect the wide variety of research conducted. By joining Southwest history with the history of science in ways that illumine both fields, Webb shows that the understanding of regional science is essential to a complete understanding of the Southwest.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0816521883/?tag=2022091-20
(For well over a century, the United States has witnessed ...)
For well over a century, the United States has witnessed a prolonged debate over organic evolution and teaching of the theory in the nation's public schools. The controversy that began with the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species had by the 1920's expanded to include theologians, politicians, and educators. The Scopes trial of 1925 provided the growing antievolution movement with significant publicity and led to a decline in the teaching of evolution in public schools. George E. Webb details how efforts to improve science education in the wake of Sputnik resurrected antievolution sentiment and led to the emergence of "creation science" as the most recent expression of that sentiment. Creationists continue to demand "balanced treatment" of theories of creation and evolution in public schools, even though their efforts have been declared unconstitutional in a series of federal court cases. Their battles have been much more successful at the grassroots level, garnering support from local politicians and educators. Webb attributes the success of creationists primarily to the lack of scientific literacy among the American public. Although a number of published studies have dealt with specific aspects of the debate, The Evolution Controversy in America represents the first complete historical survey of the topic. In it Webb provides an analysis of one of the most intriguing debates in the history of American thought.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813118646/?tag=2022091-20
Webb, George Ernest was born on June 17, 1952 in Salem, Ohio, United States. Son of James Cecil and Edna Jeanette (Santee) Webb.
Bachelor, University Arizona, 1973. Master of Arts, University Arizona, 1974. Doctor of Philosophy, University Arizona, 1978.
Assistant professor, Tennessee Technology U., Cookeville, 1978-1983; associate professor, Tennessee Technology U., Cookeville, 1983-1988; professor, Tennessee Technology U., Cookeville, since 1988.
(For well over a century, the United States has witnessed ...)
( As a site of scientific activity, the Southwest may be ...)
(Book by Webb, George Ernest)
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Fellow Tennessee Academy Science. Member History of Science Society, Humanities and Technology Association (editor 1985-1999, president 1987-1990).