The place of geophysics in the university – an academics view

Abstract

If one seeks in any dictionary the meaning of geophysics, it is difficult, to my mind, to find an entirely satisfying one. One I found was the 'study of physical processes relating to the Earth'. A better one I feel would read 'the study of physical processes, state and properties relating to the Earth' ---. Most geophysicists not long ago insisted that this definition included the aesthenosphere, 1ithosphere, atmosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere etc. -- if one judges by the contents of some geophysical journals, and thereby considered physical oceanography, meteorology, ionospheric physics, etc. as aspects of the all-embracing title-geophysics. In speaking on this topic as it relates to a department of geology, I should add that they have not had the temerity to include geology as a further aspect.