Major disciplines that contributed most to the establishment of mountain sciences as an independent field of study in the 19th and 20th centuries, with selected foundational scientific publications for each discipline. Book titles are noted in English translation if originally published in another language. Source: (Mathieu 2011)
Table. Core disciplines and their founding/major contributors within mountain sciences
| Major Discipline
|
Author | Title of publication | Place and date |
| Botany / Plant Geography | Alexander von Humboldt | Prologue on the Geographical Distribution of Plants According to the Climate and Altitude of Mountains | Paris 1817 |
| Geology | Charles Lyell | Principles of Geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth’s surface, by reference to causes now in operation (3 volumes) | London 1830-33 |
| Cartography | Heinrich Berghaus | The Physical Atlas: A Series of Maps Illustrating the Geographical Distribution of Natural Phenomena | Gotha 1845-48 |
| Glaciology | Albert Mousson | The Glaciers of the Present Time. A Synthesis and Examination of Their Manifestations and Laws | Zurich 1854 |
| Geophysics | Johann Müller | Principles of Universal Physics (with atlas volume) | Braunschweig 1856 |
| Hydrology | Nathaniel Beardmore | Manual of Hydrology | London 1862 |
| Medicine / High Altitude Medicine | Paul Bert | Barometric Pressure: Researches in Experimental Physiology | Paris 1878 |
| Climatology | Julius Hann | Handbook of Climatology | Stuttgart 1883 |
| Geomorphology | Albrecht Penck | Morphology of the Earth’s Surface (2 parts) | Stuttgart 1894 |
| Human Geography | Jules Blache | Man and the Mountain | Paris 1934 |
| Landscape Ecology | Carl Troll | Ecological Landscape Research and Comparative High Mountain Research1 | Wiesbaden 1966 |
| Geography – as an overarching discipline | Bruno Messerli, Jack Ives, and others | As an overarching discipline, many different sub-fields and associated proponents (researchers) in geography could be included. Bruno Messerli and Jack Ives stand out, especially with Mountains of the World: A Global Priority as a major synthesis and framework for a new ‘mountain science’ | New York 1997 |
Notes:
- Collection of 13 essays with reference to 49 publications by Carl Troll, published on the occasion of his retirement. Carl Troll also “organised various highly acclaimed symposia on [mountain geoecology, or montology] and there he was able to energise younger researchers with his prestige and his engaging manner. These meetings brought together those individuals who would later found the ‘Mountain Agenda’ and [through this] bring the mountains of the world, as a distinct and major ecosystem, into Agenda 21” (for more information, see Lauer 1970, Richter/Bohm 2003, and Messerli 1984; cited in Matthieu, 2011).