Important Geologists before Darwin
Nicolaus Steno (1638 – 1686)
James Hutton (1726 – 1797)
William Smith (1769 – 1839)
William Buckland (1784 – 1856)
Charles Lyell (1797 – 1857)
Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)
Nicolaus Steno (1638 – 1686)
Elucidated the Law of Superposition
of Rock Layers and the Principles
of Original Horizontality and
Lateral Extension
1638
Niels Stensen (Nicolaus Steno)
is born on January 1 in Copenhagen, Denmark
1648
Begins attending the Vor Frue school
1656-59
Studies medicine at the University of Copenhagen
1660
Discovers the duct of the parotid glands
1660-63
Studies at the University of Leiden
1662
Publishes Anatomical Observations
1664
Publishes On Muscles and Glands and receives a
medical degree from the University of Leiden in absentia
1665
Presents Discourse on the Anatomy of the Brain in
Paris (published in 1669)
Nicolaus Steno (1638 – 1686)
1666
Dissects the head of a great white shark in public in
Florence
1667
Publishes Elements of Muscular Knowledge, including
his shark head dissection report as an addendum, and converts to
Catholicism
1668
Receives a summons from the Danish king to return to
Denmark
1669
Publishes Dissertationis Prodromus, articulating his
laws about geological strata.
1672
Arrives in Copenhagen to serve as royal anatomist
1674-76
Returns to Florence and tutors the crown prince
1677
Is consecrated as bishop for the northern missions
1677-86
Serves the northern European Catholic missions
1686
Dies at age 48 on November 25 in Schwerin, Germany
1988
Pope John Paul II beatifies Steno
Steno’s key laws, stated in his Dissertationis prodromus of
1669, are the basis of stratigraphy:
The Law of Superposition: “...at the time when any given
stratum was being formed, all the matter resting upon it was
fluid, and, therefore, at the time when the lower stratum was
being formed, none of the upper strata existed”
The Principle of Original Horizontality: “Strata either
perpendicular to the horizon or inclined to the horizon were at
one time parallel to the horizon”
The Principle of Lateral Continuity: “Material forming any
stratum were continuous over the surface of the Earth unless
some other solid bodies stood in the way.”
The Principle of Cross-cutting Discontinuities: “If a body or
discontinuity cuts across a stratum, it must have formed after
that stratum.”
James Hutton
Born 14 June 1726 in
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died 26 March 1797
Son of a merchant who
died when Hutton was
young.
Educated in Edinburgh,
Paris, and Leyden,
receiving degree of
Doctor of Medicine
from Leyden in 1749.
In 1750, at age of 24, became a successful chemist, but when
he inherited a farm from his father’s estate, he moved to the
farm and became a farmer. This led to strong interests in
meteorology and geology.
By 1770 he was renting out his farm and moved to Edinburgh,
becoming a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, a friend
of people like the physicist and chemist Joseph Black, the
philosopher David Hume, the mathematician John Playfair,
and the economist Adam Smith.
By 1785 he was giving talks about his geological
investigations, which had convinced him that the Earth was a
dynamic planet constantly being shaped and reshaped by slow
observable processes driven by heat from inside the Earth.
Uplift, erosion, sedimentation were all important processes.
In a paper he read in 1785 before the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, he famously wrote:
“The result of our present enquiry is that we find no
vestige of a beginning – no prospect of an end.”
Hutton’s arguments, not surprisingly, were greatly
criticized, spurring him to several more years of
fieldwork then the publishing of his monumental 3volume Theory of the Earth with Proofs and Illustrations
from 1795 to 1797 (the year he died). The book was too
long, too difficult, and too full of theological arguments
and long quotations from French to have any impact –
until his friend John Playfair produced a shorter, more
readable version in 1802.
William Smith
(1769 – 1839)
Born to a blacksmith in
Churchill, Oxfordshire, on
March 23, 1769.
Following his father’s death,
he was raised by his uncle,
also named William Smith.
Enjoyed reading, and bought
a copy of Daniel Fenning’s
The Art of Measuring (about
surveying).
When a noted surveyor, Edward Webb, was brought to
West Oxfordshire to survey farmland in the area, Smith
approached him with some questions that showed an
aptitude for surveying, and he was hired as Webb’s
assistant, quickly proving his worth.
Soon he was being hired on his own, and then he was
hired by the Somerset Coal Canal Company, for which he
worked eight years, learning a great deal about the
geology of that part of England. He came to recognize
the different strata and how they were ordered and how
they inclined. He then discovered that similar-looking
strata could be distinguished from one another by the
fossils present in the strata, which differed.
At Dunkertown, on January 5, 1796, he wrote a onesentence note to himself on a single sheet of paper; the
note, with its underlined phrase, has been preserved.
“Fossils have long been studied as great curiosities,
collected with great pains, treasured with great care and
at a great expense, and showed and admired with as much
pleasure as a child’s rattle or a hobby-horse is shown and
admired by himself and his playfellows, because it is
pretty; and this has been done by thousands who have
never paid the least regard to that wonderful order and
regularity with which Nature has disposed of these
singular productions, and assigned to each class its
particular stratum.”
Illustration of Lower Chalk fossils from Smith’s very
rare book, Strata Identified by Organized Fossils.
From 1799 to 1815
Smith worked on a great
geological map of
Britain.
Smith’s great map – the
first real geological map
– was 8 feet high and 6
feet wide. It is
recognized as the first
real geological map ever
made. His use of color
was spectacular in
making the surface
geology understandable.
.
John Phillips (1800 – 1874)
Smith had a sister Elizabeth who married a man named John Phillips,
and they had a son, also named John Phillips. When first the father
died, followed soon after by Elizabeth, little John Phillips was left an
orphan. William Smith then brought him into his home and raised
him.
The young John Phillips followed his uncle around and became
interested in rocks, minerals, and geology. So interested that he
himself eventually became a prominent geologist in his own right.
John Phillips became a professor of geology at Dublin University and
Oxford University, received many honorary degrees, won the
prestigious Wollaston Medal in 1845, and was president of the
Geological Society of London in the year 1859 – 1860, when
Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published in 1859. He also
wrote a biography of his uncle, Memoirs of William Smith (1844).
Smith’s map was published in 1815, but some of the more
aristocratic geologists in the Geological Society, who had not
invited Smith to become a member, plagiarized some of his
early drafts of it and produced their own map and sold it
cheaper, depriving Smith of revenue he deserved and driving
him into debt. One debtor had Smith committed to a debtor’s
prison in London for 11 months in 1818 – 1819 until
some of his assets could be seized and sold.
Smith returned to his home of 14 years at 15 Buckingham
Street to find it had been seized. His nephew, now 19, had
left a note on the door telling where he was.
With his wife and nephew, Smith left for northern England
and worked as an itinerant surveyor for over a decade.
In 1828 the Rotunda Museum of Geology was built in
Scarborough, North Yorkshire, to a design by William Smith,
with funding by Sir John Johnstone of Scarborough. Along the
inside walls were fossils arranged in order (oldest at bottom). It
eventually fell into disrepair, but has recently been refurbished.
Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England
William Smith: “Father of English Geology”
One of Smith’s employers, Sir John Johnstone, knowing of his
work, decided to bring him the recognition he deserved, and
began to promote his case to English geologists.
Smith’s reputation grew quickly, and in 1831 he was awarded
the Geological Society of London’s first Wollaston Medal, the
equivalent of a Nobel Prize in geology. On that occasion, Adam
Sedgwick generously called Smith “the Father of English
Geology,” although “Father of English Stratigraphy” would
have been more appropriate.
In 1835 he went to the British Association meeting in Dublin
and was surprised – and greatly pleased – with an honorary
doctorate from Trinity College.
Smith died in Northampton in 1839 at the age of 70.
William Buckland
Born 12 March 1784
Died 14 August 1856, age 72
Son of the Rector of Templeton
Educated at Oxford
“Old Earth” Creationist, who
believed in extinctions and
creations of plants and animals.
Believed in global deluge in
Noah’s time but did not support
flood geology.
William
Buckland
lecturing. He
made heavy
use of maps,
charts,
illustrations,
and fossil
specimens –
always
insisting on
working from
facts and
evidence.
Buckland’s Scientific Work …
Found a cave full of animal bones and at first thought they had
been deposited there in a great flood but later showed they were
brought there by feeding hyenas (accepted theory today).
Described from bones discovered at Stonesfield (mainly after
1815) the first giant reptile fossil (Megalosaurus – “Giant
Lizard”) – the first dinosaur fossil.
Became convinced of the correctness of Louis Agassiz’ theory
that glaciation was responsible for many surface features in
Europe, including Britain.
Wrote one of the eight Bridgewater Treatises “On the Power,
Wisdom and Goodness of God, as Manifested in the Creation,”
the one on “Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference
to Natural Theology.”
Buckland’s Famous Eccentricity …
Unusual habit/hobby: eating his way through the animal
kingdom, to know what everything tasted like. (His son
Frank Buckland, a naturalist, continued this habit.)
Dinner guests reported having panther, crocodile, and
mouse at his house. He reported the worst-tasting animals
as moles and bluebottles (an English housefly); he did not
serve these to guests.
At a museum in Nuneham (near Oxford) he reportedly ate
the heart of a French king (Louis XIV?) kept in a silver
casket, exclaiming that he had eaten many strange things,
but never the heart of a king.
Also familiar with the tastes of different dirts in England.
Sir Charles Lyell
Geologist
Born 14 November 1797 in
Kinnordy, Angus, Scotland
Died 22 February 1875 and
buried in Westminster
Abbey
12 years older than Darwin,
died 7 years before him.
Eldest of 10 children of a
prominent lawyer and
amateur botanist, also
named Charles Lyell.
Lyell was a student at Oxford, where he took geology from William
Buckland, but he became a lawyer and worked as a lawyer in the
early 1820s.
His interest in geology was very strong, and by 1827 (at the age of
30) he was a full-time professional geologist, supporting himself on
his teaching and writing.
Became Professor of Geology at King’s College, London.
Lyell’s monumental and influential Principles of Geology (3
volumes, published 1830 – 1833) underwent 11 editions during his
lifetime, and he was making revisions for the 12th edition at the time
of his death.
In 1832 he married Mary Horner, daughter of the Scottish geologist
Leonard Horner. After Darwin returned from his voyage on the
HMS Beagle, Lyell met Darwin, took a strong liking to him, and
tried to get him interested in marrying one of Mary’s sisters.
Lyell’s Principles of Geology
Principles of Geology was a three-volume work that
first appeared 1830 – 1833 but was continually revised
during Lyell’s lifetime.
Volume 1 (1830) was purchased by Robert FitzRoy,
Captain of HMS Beagle, who (at the time at least) liked
Lyell’s ideas, and was given to Charles Darwin, who
read it and found it useful in explaining the geological
features he saw on the voyage of the Beagle. Volumes 2
and 3 made their way to Darwin during the voyage.
Volume 2 dealt with past organic life and its fossils, and
in the first edition was decidedly anti-evolution. It took
Darwin years to convert Lyell into an evolutionist.
Lyell’s Principles of Geology
The full title of this work was Principles of Geology,
Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of
the Earth’s Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in
Operation.
The opening words of volume 1 defined geology:
“Geology is the science which investigates the
successive changes that have taken place in the
organic and inorganic kingdoms of nature; it enquires
into the causes of these changes, and the influence
which they have exerted in modifying the surface and
external structure of our planet.”
Frontispiece to Lyell’s Principles of Geology showing the four
main types of rocks. Aqueous = sedimentary; volcanic +
plutonic = igneous.
Uniformitarianism
The basic thrust of Lyell’s geology was
uniformitarianism, that the earth and its geology had
been shaped by processes identical to those currently
operating on the earth. This was essentially Hutton’s
idea, but Lyell developed it fully.
For example, the forces that build and later erode
mountain ranges were the same in the distant geological
past as those occurring today.
Catastrophism
Uniformitarianism
replaced the
alternate theory of
catastrophism, that
the earth had been
shaped by sudden,
quick, catastrophic
forces such as
those in Noah’s
flood, maybe once,
maybe many times.
Noah’s Ark by Edward Hicks
Mary Anning: Noted Fossil Finder
Born in Lyme Regis, England,
21 May 1799
Died in Lyme Regis, England,
9 March 1847
Her father, a cabinet maker,
hunted fossils as a hobby, but
he died when Mary was 13
and the family became
destitute, living off charity
and what they received from
buyers of the fossils they
found.
The Anning family gained a reputation for their wonderful fossil
finds, attracting tourists to Lyme Regis as well as wealthy fossil
buyers. Mary always engaged visitors, especially the scientists, in
conversation to learn more about geology and fossil species.
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Birch became patron of the family,
advertising their successes and donating important fossils to
museums, always crediting Mary Anning with their discovery, in
contrast to most rich fossil donors who did not credit the discoverer.
In 1838 the British Association for the Advancement of Science
granted her an annuity for the rest of her life.
Her obituary was published in the Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society, 57 years before the Geological Society admitted
its first woman member.
Mary Anning died of breast cancer in 1847.
Lady Harriet Silvester visited Anning in 1824 and
recorded in her diary:
“the extraordinary thing in this young woman is that she
had made herself so thoroughly acquainted with the
science that the moment she finds any bones she knows
to what tribe they belong. . . . by reading and application
she has arrived to that greater degree of knowledge as to
be in the habit of writing and talking with professors and
other clever men on the subject, and they all
acknowledge that she understands more of the science
than anyone else in this kingdom.”
Important Discoveries by Anning
The first specimen of Ichthyosaurus acknowledged by
the Geological Society in London.
The first nearly complete example of Plesiosaurus
The first British Pterodactylus macronyx, a fossil flying
reptile
Squaloraja fossil fish, a transitional link between sharks
and rays
Plesiosaurus macrocephalus.
Others? Museums always credited fossils to the person
who donated them, not to the original finder.