Charles Lyell
British geologist (1797-1875) · United Kingdom · Scientists · Died at 77
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Something wrong?Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
Photos 12
The main geographical divisions of Scotland
Charles Lyell at the British Association meeting in Glasgow 1840. Painting by Alexander Craig.
A page from one of Lyell's notebooks, held in the University of Edinburgh's Heritage Collections
The frontispiece from Elements of Geology
"Professor Ichthyosaurus" shows his pupils the skull of extinct man, caricature of Lyell by Henry De la Beche (1830)
Lyell between 1865 and 1870
Lyell argued that volcanoes like Vesuvius had built up gradually.Awards
In their orbit 6
About this person
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles Darwin and as the author of Principles of Geology (1830-33), which presented to a wide public audience the idea that the earth was shaped by the same natural processes still in operation today, operating at similar intensities. The philosopher William Whewell dubbed this gradualistic view "uniformitarianism" and contrasted it with catastrophism, which had been championed by Georges Cuvier and was better accepted in Europe. The combination of evidence and eloquence in Principles convinced a wide range of readers of the significance of "deep time" for understanding the earth and environment.
Scientists from the United Kingdom 6
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