Dissertation Research: History of "The Coral Reef Problem" from Explorations to Explosions

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Project SummaryA History of the "Coral Reef Problem," from Explorations to ExplosionsIntellectual MeritThe objective of this project is to produce a history of what became knownas the "coral reef problem," from European naturalists' first explorationsin the Pacific to the mid-twentieth century, when new types of coralresearch were made possible through the aftermath of the U.S. nuclearweapons testing programs at the coral atolls of the Marshall Islands. Thisquestion consumed participants ranging from naval policymakers toscience administrators, and it was taken up by a diverse but mutuallyrecognized group of naturalists and scientists from a variety of distinctbackgrounds and disciplines. What united them was a common discourseon the formation of coral reefs, but what divided them promises to offerinsights into the practice of studying nature and the ways of formulatingtheories as they changed over this time.Scientists have used coral reefs as a place to juxtapose kingdoms ofnature, the present and the past, and conceptions of the individual and thecommunity. Reefs have constituted a point of intersection for many of theclassic notions of how the study of nature should be divided: they are atonce animal, vegetable, and mineral. The "life" of a single reef unites thepresent and the ancient past. They are renowned as complex ecosystems,but students of their growth and shapes have treated them as organicindividuals.For these reasons, the coral reef problem at issue in this dissertation hasbeen of sustained intellectual significance to scientists over the past twohundred years. The project will be a history of the ideas those scientistsproduced. And when science has commanded the attention of politics andthe fascination of society-as over evolution and the Bomb-coral reefshave been the experimental and explosive proving ground for some ofscience and culture's deepest reaching questions.Broader ImpactsThis project will be of interest, then, to anyone who hopes to understandhow science has brought coral reefs from the periphery of ourunderstanding to the center of our conceptions of what is most complex,fragile, and valuable about nature. It will also be of substantial relevanceto historians, philosophers, and science teachers interested in the way thatscientific problems have been asked, answered, challenged, and testedduring the development of modern professional science. This projectshows how members of very different scientific disciplines-naturalhistorians, geologists, zoologists, ecologists, and physical geographers-set about attacking the exact same question: how are coral reefs formed?