Glaciers flow like viscous fluids (Forbes)
Los glaciares fluyen como fluidos viscosos (Forbes)
- Date
- 1842-1843 · confidence high
- Place
- Mer de Glace, Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France
- Credited to
- James David Forbes
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
With repeated measurements on the Mer de Glace, Forbes showed that ice moves faster in the centre of a glacier than at the margins, and faster in summer than in winter, and argued that it behaves as a viscous fluid. He founded quantitative glaciology.
Agassiz measured the velocity of the Aar glacier earlier (1840-1842) and disputed priority with Forbes; Tyndall contested the physical explanation. The viscous-flow idea was partly accepted.
What it led to
- quantitative glaciology and ice rheology
- the controversy with Tyndall over fracture and regelation
Made possible
Links
Sources✓ verified 2026-11-06
- https://encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/forbes-james-david
- https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pt_30_12/paper-on-the-viscous-theory-of-glacier-motion-part-ii-an-attempt-to-establish-by-observation-the-plasticity-of-glacier-ice-by-james-d-david-forbes