History of Theories of Mass Extinction by Meteorite Impact  and Alternative Causes
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{'SignBlockName': 'Ronald J. Overmann', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
Dr. William Glen, who is undertaking this project under the                     direction of Dr. Weart, is continuing his study, supported under                previous NSF grants, of a series of current interdisciplinary                   debates that were prompted by the discovery of chemical evidence                suggesting a meteorite impact at the time of mass extinction in                 the fossil record 65 million years ago.  Such extinctions,                      subsequently postulated as periodic, were explained by three new                alternative astronomical hypotheses, all designed to cyclically                 shower the earth with comets.  A number of additional hypotheses                have also been advanced that address various aspects of the                     biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere bearing on mass                          extinctions.                                                                                                                                                    Dr. Glen has produced a stage-specific data base including a                    large number of oral history interviews of the participants of                  the debates over the development of these competing theories.                   These interviews and other documentary data have aided in                       understanding how perceptions form and alter as arguments evolve.               They also serve in assessing various models of science and have                 lent themselves to the analysis and taxonomy of the upheaval                    resulting from these debates.                                                                                                                                   The interviewing and collecting of primary historical materials                 has been essentially completed.  Dr. Glen is currently completing               a major survey of members of 9 professional societies related to                the theories under debate.  Under this grant, he is analyzing the               data he has collected to date, conducting a few focussed followup               interviews, examining the "pre-history" of these debates, and                   preparing a final study of this history.  These results, when                   published, will provide major source material for the history,                  philosophy and social science of science.
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{'Code': '1353', 'Text': 'Hist & Philosophy of SET'}
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