The purpose of this Handbook is to provide, in highly accessible form, selected
critical data for professional and student solid Earth and planetary geophysicists.
Coverage of topics and authors were carefully chosen to fulfill these objectives.
These volumes represent the third version of the “Handbook of Physical Constants.”
Several generations of solid Earth scientists have found these handbooks’to be the most
frequently used item in their personal library. The first version of this Handbook was
edited by F. Birch, J. F. Schairer, and H. Cecil Spicer and published in 1942 by the
Geological Society of America (GSA) as Special Paper 36. The second edition, edited
by Sydney P. Clark, Jr., was also published by GSA as Memoir 92 in 1966. Since
1966, our scientific knowledge of the Earth and planets has grown enormously, spurred
by the discovery and verification of plate tectonics and the systematic exploration of the
solar system.