Facets

1913

#7436

Our vanishing wild life: Its extermination and reservation.

One of the first books wholly devoted to endangered wild animals. Hornaday revolutionized museum exhibits by displaying wildlife in their natural settings, and is credited with discovering the American crocodile, savi…

1916

#8154

Plant succession: An analysis of the development of vegetation.

A seminal work of ecological science, establishing a dynamic model of species succession toward an eventual "climax" equilibrium under the influence of climate and other factors in a given habitat. "From his observati…

1925

#145.63

Elements of physical biology.

In this landmark of theoretical population ecology Lotka attempted to provide for parts of biology a basis comparable to that given by theoretical physics to experimental physics. This was the first great exposition a…

1926

#145.64

Variazioni e fluttuazioni del numero d’individui in specie animali conviventi.

The mathematician Volterra created the basic equations for two species interactions. Abridged English translation as appendix to R. Chapman, Animal ecology, New York, 1931.

1927

#145.65

Animal ecology.

Elton integrated the concepts of food chains, pyramids of numbers, and the “niche” into a useful framework for ecology.

1928

#194.1

Äskulap und Venus. Eine Kultur- und Sittengeschichte im Spiegel des Ärztes.

An exhaustive and well-illustrated survey of medical anthropology with emphasis on sexuality.

1930

#7308

Mathematische Klimalehre und astronomische Theorie der Klimaschwankungen. Handbuch der Klimatologie, Bd. 1, Teil A.

Milankovitch cycles, first exposition (176 pages). Milankovitch theorized that variations in eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession of the Earth's orbit determined climatic patterns on Earth through orbital forcing,…

1934

#145.66

The struggle for existence.

Gause developed the concept of competitive exclusion as formulated by Volterra.

1937

#10198

The Citadel.

This novel was "groundbreaking with its treatment of the contentious theme of medical ethics. It has been credited with laying the foundation in Great Britain for the introduction of the NHS a decade later.[1] "For hi…

1937

#11797

A sex starved world.

A eugenic utopian fantasy, in which we accompany a doctor in his dream journey to the liberated land of Amor. Pritcher presents an impassioned argument for free universal health care, contraception, no-fault divorce, …

1939

#6594

The first Negro medical society. A history of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of the District of Columbia.

A detailed history of the “first American Negro medical society formed in America and probably in the world”. Cobb was the first black American medical historian of note.

1941

#13027

Kanon der Erdbestrahlung und seine Anwendung auf das Eiszeitenproblem.

Milanković’s masterwork on his astronomical theory of climate, which brought together all the mathematical elements underlying the theory of “Milanković cycles.” Milanković cycles are cyclical changes in a planet’s cl…

1942

#145.67

The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology.

“The birth of ecosystem ecology” (McIntosh). Lindeman described energy flow in ecosystems in a form amenable to productive abstract analysis. This paper introduced what came to be known as the "Ten percent law."

1945

#9891

On the use of matrices in certain population mathematics.

"... the Leslie matrix is a discrete, age-structured model of population growth that is very popular in population ecology.... The Leslie matrix (also called the Leslie model) is one of the most well known ways to des…

1949

#7084

A Sand County almanac, and sketches here and there.

This combination of natural history, philosophy, and poetic writing informed the environmental movement. It is perhaps best known for the following quote, which defines Leopold's land ethic: "A thing is right when it …

1955

#6928

The crystal structure of the hexacarboxylic acid derived from B12 and the molecular structure of the vitamin.

The final structure of vitamin B12. With J. Pickworth, J.H. Robertson, K.N. Trueblood, R.J. Prosen, J. G. White. In 1964 Hodgkin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for her determinations by X-ray techniques of …

1957

#7386

The path of carbon in photosynthesis.

Discovery of the Calvin cycle, also known as the Calvin–Benson–Bassham (CBB) cycle, or reductive pentose phosphate cycle or C3 cycle — a series of biochemical redox reactions that take place in the stroma of chloropla…

1962

#7841

Silent spring.

This very carefully documented book convincingly proved the disastrous effects of DDT in the environment, and generated a storm of controversy. It was later credited with founding the "environmental movement" in the U…

1964

#6610.3

The Royal College of Physicians of London: Portraits.

Descriptions of the portraits by D. Piper. Wolstenholme and J.F. Kerslake edited Vol. 2 of the study, with essays by R. Ekkart and D. Piper, Oxford, Elsevier, 1977.

1965

#7422

Restoring the quality of our environment. Report of The Environmental Pollution Panel, President's Science Advisory Committee.

Digital facsimile available at this link.

1967

#8155

The theory of island biogeography.

MacArthur and Wilson showed that the species richness of an area could be predicted in terms of such factors as habitat area, immigration rate and extinction rate.

1968

#11230

John Evelyn: A study in bibliopphily with a bibliography of his writings

Second edition, revised. First published in 1937 by The Grolier Club and Cambridge University Press.

1970

#8156

The influence of nitrogen oxides on the atmospheric ozone content.

Crutzen showed that nitrous oxide impacts the ozone layer by pointing out "that emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a stable, long-lived gas produced by soil bacteria, from the Earth's surface could affect the amount of…

1970

#13559

Is carbon dioxide from fossil fuel changing man's environment?

Keeling developed the first instrument that could measure carbon dioxide in atmospheric samples with consistently reliable accuracy, and in 1958 began collecting carbon dioxide samples from a base he established at Ma…

1971

#10678

The role of the trypanosomiases in African ecology: A study of the Tsetse fly problem.

1974

#8157

Stratospheric sink for chlorofluoromethanes: chlorine atom-catalysed destruction of ozone.

Rowland and his post-doctoral student, Molina, suggested that long-lived organic halogen compounds, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), could reach the stratosphere where they would be dissociated by UV light, releasi…

1974

#12444

Before Silent Spring: Pesticides and public health in pre-DDT America.

1978

#145.9

An introduction to population ecology.

This elegantly written textbook by a pioneering authority is based on a carefully documented historical approach to the subject.

1979

#14206

Experimental evidence in support of an extra-terrestrial trigger for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinctions. (Abstract).

Iridium is a very rare element in the Earth's crust, but is found in anomalously high concentrations (around 1000 times greater than normal) in a thin worldwide layer of clay marking the boundary between the Cretaceou…

1980

#7970

The death of nature: Women, ecology and the scientific revolution.

Reprinted with addition of a new preface, 1990.

1980

#14207

Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction.

Following up on No. 14206, the authors stated that the same excess iridium areas were found in two different areas of W. Europe and in New Zealand, and posited that “the anomalous iridium concentrations at the C [reta…

1983

#10407

Changes in the land: Indians, colonists and the ecology of New England.

"In this work, Cronon demonstrated the impact on the land of the widely disparate conceptions of ownership held by Native Americans and English colonists. English law objectified land, making it an object of which the…

1985

#145.91

The background of ecology: concept and theory.

1985

#8158

Large losses of total ozone in Antarctica reveal seasonal Cl0x/Nox interaction.

Discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. In December 2016 the full text of the paper was available from ciesin.org at this link.

1985

#11060

Structure of the protein subunit in the photosynthetic reaction centre of Rhodopseudomonas viridis at 3 Å resolution.

Discovery of the three-dimensional structure of a protein complex found in certain photosynthetic bacteria, called the photosynthetic reaction center. This was the first elucidation of the 3D crystal structure of any …

1986

#7957

A peculiar population: The nutrition, health, and mortality of American slaves from childhood to maturity.

Digital facsimile from Jstor and at this link.

1986

#8213

Ecological imperialism: The biological expansion of Europe, 900-1900.

Revised edition, 2004.

1986

#11476

New perspectives on the medical consequences of nuclear war.

Leaf helped found Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) in 1961 and became a prominent member of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). This paper highlighted "new research on estimat…

1989

#11475

Potential health effects of global climatic and environmental changes.

1991

#14208

Chicxulub Crater: A possible Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary impact crater on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico.

Eleven years after publication of No. 14207, Alan Hildebrand, working with Luis and Walter Alvarez, proposed that the Chicxulub Crater, discovered by Antonio-Camargo-Zanoguera and Glen T. Penfield during the 1970s, wa…

1992

#8054

The Norton history of the environmental sciences.

1992

#11855

Disorderly eaters: Texts in self-empowerment. Edited by Lillian R. Furst and Peter W. Graham.

Explores the various manifestations of eating disorders in literature, including cannibalism, the magic attributes of food, religiously motivated fasting, and children's eating problems, from the classical period to T…

1994

#7068

Nature's economy. A history of ecological ideas. Second edition.

1995

#9881

Green imperialism: Colonial expansion, tropical island edens and the origins of environmentalism 1600–1860.

"... the first book to document the origins and early history of environmentalism, concentrating especially on its hitherto unexplained colonial and global aspects. It highlights the significance of Utopian, Physiocra…

1996

#9757

Baths and bathing in classical antiquity.

Reviews and analyzes the structure, function, and design of baths, seeking to integrate their architecture with the wider social and cultural custom of bathing, and examining in particular the changes this custom unde…

1996

#10435

The song of the Dodo: Island biogeography in an age of extinctions.

1998

#7717

Historical perspectives on climate change.

1998

#10477

Enlightenment and pathology: Sensibility in the literature and medicine of eighteenth-century France.

1999

#7032

Taking positions. On the erotic in Renaissance culture.

Of particular relevance to the history of medical literature is Chapter 8: "Mythology, Sexuality, and Science in Charles Estienne's Manual of Anatomy" (pp. 161-188). This refers to Estienne's De dissectione partium co…

2000

#9392

Something new under the sun: An environmental history of the twentieth-century world.