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William Smith (geologist)
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William SmithWilliam Smith
Born / 23 March 1769(1769-03-23)
Churchill, Oxfordshire
Died / 28 August 1839(1839-08-28) (aged70)
Nationality / English
Fields / Geology
Knownfor / Geological map
William 'Strata' Smith (23 March 1769 – 28 August 1839) was an Englishgeologist, credited with creating the first nationwide geological map. He is known as the "Father of English Geology" for collating the geological history of England and Wales into a single record, although recognition was very slow in coming. At the time his map was first published he was overlooked by the scientific community; his relatively humble education and family connections preventing him from mixing easily in learned society. Consequently his work was plagiarised, he was financially ruined, and he spent time in debtors' prison. It was only much later in his life that Smith received recognition for his accomplishments.
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Georges Cuvier
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Georges CuvierGeorges Cuvier
Born / August 23, 1769(1769-08-23)
Montbéliard
Died / 13 May 1832(1832-05-13) (aged62)
Paris
Nationality / French
Fields / Natural history, paleontology, anatomy
Institutions / Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Knownfor / establishing the fields of stratigraphy and comparative anatomy; the first thorough, published documentation of faunal succession in the fossil record; making extinction an accepted scientific phenomenon; opposition to gradualistic theories of evolution
From
Charles Lyell
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For other people named Charles Lyell, see Charles Lyell (disambiguation).
Sir Charles Lyell, BtBorn / 14 November 1797(1797-11-14)
Kinnordy, Forfarshire, Scotland
Died / 22 February 1875(1875-02-22) (aged77)
Harley Street, London, England
Nationality / British
Fields / Geology
Knownfor / Uniformitarianism
Influences / James HuttonJohn Playfair; Lamarck; William Buckland
Influenced / Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Thomas Henry Huxley, Roderick Impey Murchison
Notable awards / Copley Medal
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, KtFRS (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Britishlawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation today. Lyell was a close and influential friend of Charles Darwin.
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James Hutton
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For other people named James Hutton, see James Hutton (disambiguation).
James HuttonHutton as painted by Sir Henry Raeburn
Born / 14 June 1726(1726-06-14)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died / 26 March 1797(1797-03-27)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Citizenship / Great Britain
Nationality / Scottish
Fields / Geology
Knownfor / Plutonic geology
Deep time
Notes
Member of the Royal Society of Agriculture of France
James HuttonFRSE (Edinburgh, 3 June 1726 OS(14 June 1726 NS)– 26 March 1797) was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist.[1] He is considered the father of modern geology.[2][3] His theories of geology and geologic time,[4] also called deep time,[5] came to be included in theories which were called plutonism and uniformitarianism.
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Nicolas Steno
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BlessedNicolas StenoVicar Apostolic of Nordic Missions
Portrait of Steno as bishop
See / Titopolis
Appointed / 21 August 1677
by Pope Innocent XI
Personal details
Birth name / Niels Stensen
Born / 1 January 1638(1638-01-01)
[NS: 11 January 1638]
Copenhagen, Denmark
Died / 25 November 1686(1686-11-25) (aged48)
[
Occupation /
- Scientist: anatomy, paleontology, stratigraphy, geology
- Clergyman: Counter-Reformation in Northern Germany
Nicolas Steno (1 January 1638– 25 November 1686[7][8][NS: 11 January 1638– 5 December 1686][7]) was a DanishCatholicbishop and scientist and a pioneer in both anatomy and geology. Steno was trained in the classical texts on science; however, by 1659 he seriously questioned accepted knowledge of the natural world.[9] Importantly he questioned explanations for tear production, the idea that fossils grew in the ground and explanations of rock formation. His investigations and his subsequent conclusions on fossils and rock formation has led scholars to consider him one of the founders of both modern stratigraphy and modern geology, together with James Hutton.[10][11]