As a field geologist, I have been involved in the overwhelming excitement of three scientific revolutions—a mini revolution in structural geology, the impact-extinction revolution that freed geology from uncompromising uniformitarianism, and the plate tectonic revolution that turned the routine field of geology into one of the most exciting and essential sciences of the present time. I have also worked across several discipline boundaries, an activity I call scientific trespassing. My career has unfolded in such unexpected ways that, like anyone's life and like the history of our planet, it can only be seen as a most improbable journey. A focus on these three concepts and on the history of geology (a traditional name used here for all the Earth sciences) leads to the understanding that geology was once the crown jewel of sciences, and that after a century of necessary but routine geologic mapping, geology now needs to resume its crown jewel role because the understanding and care of our planet is becoming humanity's most urgent task.

中文翻译：

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地质学：科学皇冠上的一颗明珠？


作为一名野外地质学家，我参与了三场激动人心的科学革命——结构地质学的小型革命，将地质学从不妥协的均变论中解放出来的撞击灭绝革命，以及将地质学的常规领域转变为当今最令人兴奋和最重要的科学之一的板块构造革命。我还跨越了几个学科的界限，我称之为科学侵入。我的职业生涯以如此意想不到的方式展开，就像任何人的生活和我们星球的历史一样，它只能被视为最不可能的旅程。关注这三个概念和地质学的历史（这里所有地球科学的传统名称）可以使人理解地质学曾经是科学皇冠上的明珠，在一个世纪必要但常规的地质测绘之后，地质学现在需要恢复其皇冠上的明珠作用，因为了解和照顾我们的星球正在成为人类最紧迫的任务。