Georgius Agricola: 3 books

Originally published in 1556, Agricola's De ReM etallica was the first book on mining to be based on field research and observation — what today would be called the "scientific approach." It was therefore the first book to offer detailed technical drawings to illustrate the various specialized...

There are three objectives in translation of works of this character: to give a faithful, literal translation of the author's statements; to give these in a manner which will interest the reader; and to preserve, so far as is possible, the style of the original text. The task has been doubly difficult...

This 1546 publication remains a landmark in geology due to its unprecedented classifications by physical property and locality, its simple standardized naming system, its meticulous summaries of earlier studies, and its employment of observation and personal experience.