The Value of Different Perspectives

Amazingly, for a field of study that makes so much about being driven by impartial, logical reasoning, geology might be as prone to group-think as anthropology or sociology.

This Atlantic article shows a prime example of that surprisingly convergent thinking of geologists on the various extinction theories. Most in the field support the meteor-hit in the Yucatan explanation. Dr. Geerta Keller, of Princeton, is a dissenter, whose hypothesis that massive volcanic activity in India triggered the mass extinctions.

http://massextinction.princeton.edu/about

I've generally found most of their science-related articles in The Atlantic are top-rate - accurate as to the science, while being accessible for the layman.

That the dissenting scientist is a woman is a footnote. Other scientists who've experienced isolation and push-back have been males, from a minority culture, or Good Old Boys from the elite institutions.

What is notable is that most of these dissenters come from a background that has led them to be comfortable outside of the consensus of the group. Without that ability to shrug off criticism and even ridicule, they would never be able to persevere in their studies of alternative hypotheses. Women, by definition, are a distinct minority in the physical sciences. As such, those that persist in pursuing a career are those that have internal strength and lesser need for interpersonal connections. They can sit in a room where no one looks like them, their input is disparaged, and few want to associate with them - and, yet, continue working, seemingly without personal or psychic distress.

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