Expeditions and Fieldwork in Earth Sciences

What do journeys, expeditions, and fieldwork mean in the context of earth sciences? What status do they have, and what is their specific contribution to the training and development of geology? These are the main questions that this chapter seeks to answer. In the first section of the contribution, we will explore the phenomenon of travel and expeditions from a general point of view. Then we will analyze it on three levels. First, the practice of field research will be examined on the basis of introductory books as a manifestation of the methodological development of geologists’ targeted travel (questions and instructions), which reached its peak between 1750 and 1840. It was during this period that geology emerged as a discipline in its own right. Introductory books detailing the aims and procedures of a fieldwork reflect the fact that field research was considered essential by contemporary scholars. Similarly, the geologist’s hammer was invented in the eighteenth century and became the everyday tool of geologists in the field and ultimately the emblem of the profession.

The contribution identifies three thematic clusters that illustrate the heterogeneity of expeditions and fieldwork in the development of geology. First, both are essentially connected to practices. Second, we have to explore the question of space and place in relation to expeditions and fieldwork, and third, the interplay between practices and scientific discourse, or theory and fieldwork (observation), needs to be analyzed. All three perspectives help us understand what was specific to the science of geology in terms of fieldwork and expeditions that also involved other sciences.