106-398: Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet , FRS (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) 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
212-458: A Middle Jurassic fossil of the early mammal Didelphis , Lyell told his father that "There was everything but man even as far back as the Oolite." Lyell inaccurately portrayed Lamarckism as a response to the fossil record, and said it was falsified by a lack of progress. He said in the second volume of Principles that the occurrence of this one fossil of the higher mammalia "in these ancient strata,
318-571: A "remarkable manifestation of creative Power" as creating each species separately. He countered Lamarck's views by rejecting continued cooling of the earth in favour of "a fluctuating cycle", a long-term steady-state geohistory as proposed by James Hutton . The fragmentary fossil record already showed "a high class of fishes, close to reptiles" in the Carboniferous period which he called "the first Zoological era", and quadrupeds could also have existed then. In November 1827, after William Broderip found
424-735: A Chair (all of whom are Fellows of the Royal Society ). Members of the 10 Sectional Committees change every three years to mitigate in-group bias . Each Sectional Committee covers different specialist areas including: New Fellows are admitted to the Society at a formal admissions day ceremony held annually in July, when they sign the Charter Book and the Obligation which reads: "We who have hereunto subscribed, do hereby promise, that we will endeavour to promote
530-645: A better explanation, and played a significant role in promoting it. Buckland was born at Axminster in Devon and, as a child, would accompany his father, the Rector of Templeton and Trusham , on his walks where interest in road improvements led to collecting fossil shells, including ammonites , from the Early Jurassic Lias rocks exposed in local quarries. He was educated first at Blundell's School , Tiverton, Devon, and then at Winchester College , from where he won
636-505: A copy of Principles and praising the book as opening a way for bold speculation on "that mystery of mysteries, the replacement of extinct species by others" – by analogy with other intermediate causes , "the origination of fresh species, could it ever come under our cognizance, would be found to be a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process". Lyell replied: "In regard to the origination of new species, I am very glad to find that you think it probable that it may be carried on through
742-554: A directional geohistory in which species went extinct. Around 1826, when he was on circuit, he read Lamarck 's Zoological Philosophy and on 2 March 1827 wrote to Mantell , expressing admiration, but cautioning that he read it "rather as I hear an advocate on the wrong side, to know what can be made of the case in good hands".: He struggled with the implications for human dignity, and later in 1827 wrote private notes on Lamarck's ideas. Lyell reconciled transmutation of species with natural theology by suggesting that it would be as much
848-410: A modification of Lamarck's?" In other respects Antiquity was a success. It sold well, and it "shattered the tacit agreement that mankind should be the sole preserve of theologians and historians". But when Lyell wrote that it remained a profound mystery how the huge gulf between man and beast could be bridged, Darwin wrote "Oh!" in the margin of his copy. Places named after Lyell: Fellow of
954-589: A profession, entering Lincoln's Inn in 1820. He completed a circuit through rural England, where he could observe geological phenomena. In 1821 he attended Robert Jameson 's lectures in Edinburgh, and visited Gideon Mantell at Lewes , in Sussex . In 1823 he was elected joint secretary of the Geological Society . As his eyesight began to deteriorate, he turned to geology as a full-time profession. His first paper, "On
1060-579: A profitable mining area, bears Lyell's name; and the Lyell Range in north-west Western Australia is named after him as well. In Southwest Nelson in the South Island of New Zealand, the Lyell Range, Lyell River and the gold mining town of Lyell (now only a camping site) were all named after Lyell. Lyall Bay in Wellington, New Zealand was possibly named after Lyell. The jawless fish Cephalaspis lyelli , from
1166-512: A recent formation of freshwater limestone in Forfarshire", was presented in 1826. By 1827, he had abandoned law and embarked on a geological career that would result in fame and the general acceptance of uniformitarianism, a working out of the ideas proposed by James Hutton a few decades earlier. In 1832, Lyell married Mary Horner in Bonn, daughter of Leonard Horner (1785–1864), also associated with
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#17328448884911272-468: A remarkable series of nearly three hundred manuscript notebooks and diaries. These span Lyell's long scientific career (1825–1874), and offer an unrivalled insight into personal influences, field observations, thoughts and relationships. They were acquired in 2019 by the University of Edinburgh 's Heritage Collections, thanks to a fundraising campaign, with many generous individual and institutional donors from
1378-536: A scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford , matriculating in 1801 and graduating BA in 1805. He also attended lectures of John Kidd on mineralogy and chemistry, developed an interest in geology , and carried out field research on strata during his vacations. He went on to obtain his MA degree in 1808, became a Fellow of Corpus Christi in 1809, and was ordained as a priest. He continued to make frequent geological excursions, on horseback, to various parts of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In 1813, Buckland
1484-461: A table inlaid with dinosaur coprolites . The original table top is exhibited at the Lyme Regis Museum . Not only was William Buckland's home filled with specimens – animal as well as mineral, live as well as dead – but he claimed to have eaten his way through the animal kingdom: zoophagy . The most distasteful items were mole and bluebottle fly ; panther, crocodile and mouse were among
1590-499: A time when others were coming under the opposing influence of James Hutton 's theory of uniformitarianism , Buckland developed a new hypothesis that the word "beginning" in Genesis meant an undefined period between the origin of the earth and the creation of its current inhabitants, during which a long series of extinctions and successive creations of new kinds of plants and animals had occurred. Thus, his catastrophism theory incorporated
1696-512: A version of Old Earth creationism or Gap creationism . Buckland believed in a global deluge during the time of Noah but was not a supporter of flood geology as he believed that only a small amount of the strata could have been formed in the single year occupied by the deluge. From his investigations of fossil bones at Kirkdale Cave , in Yorkshire , he concluded that the cave had actually been inhabited by hyaenas in antediluvian times, and that
1802-502: A vivid description of the Liassic food chain based on these observations, which would inspire Henry De la Beche to paint Duria Antiquior , the first pictorial representation of a scene from the distant past. After De le Beche had a lithographic print made based on his original watercolour , Buckland kept a supply of the prints on hand to circulate at his lectures. He also discussed other similar objects found in other formations, including
1908-1321: Is a significant honour. It has been awarded to many eminent scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton (1672), Benjamin Franklin (1756), Charles Babbage (1816), Michael Faraday (1824), Charles Darwin (1839), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), Jagadish Chandra Bose (1920), Albert Einstein (1921), Paul Dirac (1930), Winston Churchill (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944), Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1945), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951), Lise Meitner (1955), Satyendra Nath Bose (1958), and Francis Crick (1959). More recently, fellowship has been awarded to Stephen Hawking (1974), David Attenborough (1983), Tim Hunt (1991), Elizabeth Blackburn (1992), Raghunath Mashelkar (1998), Tim Berners-Lee (2001), Venki Ramakrishnan (2003), Atta-ur-Rahman (2006), Andre Geim (2007), Bai Chunli (2014), James Dyson (2015), Ajay Kumar Sood (2015), Subhash Khot (2017), Elon Musk (2018), Elaine Fuchs (2019) and around 8,000 others in total, including over 280 Nobel Laureates since 1900. As of October 2018 , there are approximately 1,689 living Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Members, of whom 85 are Nobel Laureates. Fellowship of
2014-755: Is as fatal to the theory of successive development, as if several hundreds had been discovered." In the first edition of Principles , the first volume briefly set out Lyell's concept of a steady state with no real progression of fossils. The sole exception was the advent of humanity, with no great physical distinction from animals, but with absolutely unique intellectual and moral qualities. The second volume dismissed Lamarck's claims of animal forms arising from habits, continuous spontaneous generation of new life, and man having evolved from lower forms. Lyell explicitly rejected Lamarck's concept of transmutation of species, drawing on Cuvier's arguments, and concluded that species had been created with stable attributes. He discussed
2120-492: Is best known, however, for his role in elaborating the doctrine of uniformitarianism . He played a critical role in advancing the study of loess . From 1830 to 1833 his multi-volume Principles of Geology was published. The work's subtitle was "An attempt to explain the former changes of the earth's surface by reference to causes now in operation", and this explains Lyell's impact on science. He drew his explanations from field studies conducted directly before he went to work on
2226-725: Is confirmed by the Council in April, and a secret ballot of Fellows is held at a meeting in May. A candidate is elected if they secure two-thirds of votes of those Fellows voting. An indicative allocation of 18 Fellowships can be allocated to candidates from Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences; and up to 10 from Applied Sciences, Human Sciences and Joint Physical and Biological Sciences. A further maximum of six can be 'Honorary', 'General' or 'Royal' Fellows. Nominations for Fellowship are peer reviewed by Sectional Committees, each with at least 12 members and
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#17328448884912332-421: Is nominated by two Fellows of the Royal Society (a proposer and a seconder), who sign a certificate of proposal. Previously, nominations required at least five fellows to support each nomination by the proposer, which was criticised for supposedly establishing an old boy network and elitist gentlemen's club . The certificate of election (see for example ) includes a statement of the principal grounds on which
2438-527: Is shown to have been co-extensive with animal existence on our globe; the Carnivora in each period of the world's history fulfilling their destined office, – to check excess in the progress of life, and maintain the balance of creation. Buckland had been helping and encouraging Roderick Murchison for some years, and in 1831 was able to suggest a good starting point in South Wales for Murchison's researches into
2544-451: Is to happen thereafter." Geological remains from the distant past can, and should, be explained by reference to geological processes now in operation and thus directly observable. Lyell's interpretation of geological change as the steady accumulation of minute changes over enormously long spans of time was a powerful influence on the young Charles Darwin . Lyell asked Robert FitzRoy , captain of HMS Beagle , to search for erratic boulders on
2650-592: The Anthropocene . Building on the innovative work of James Hutton and his follower John Playfair , Lyell favoured an indefinitely long age for the earth, despite evidence suggesting an old but finite age. He was a close friend of Charles Darwin , and contributed significantly to Darwin's thinking on the processes involved in evolution. As Darwin wrote in On the Origin of Species , "He who can read Sir Charles Lyell's grand work on
2756-627: The British Geological Survey (founded in 1835), and the US Geological Survey (founded in 1879), map and exhibit the natural resources within their countries. Over time, these surveys have been used extensively by modern extractive industries, such as nuclear, coal and oil. Before the work of Lyell, phenomena such as earthquakes were understood by the destruction that they brought. One of the contributions that Lyell made in Principles
2862-462: The Copley Medal in 1822 for his paper on Kirkdale Cave. At the presentation the society's president, Humphry Davy , said: by these inquiries, a distinct epoch has, as it were, been established in the history of the revolutions of our globe: a point fixed from which our researches may be pursued through the immensity of ages, and the records of animate nature, as it were, carried back to the time of
2968-535: The Elements in 1838. The book went through six editions, eventually growing to two volumes and ceasing to be the inexpensive, portable handbook that Lyell had originally envisioned. Late in his career, therefore, Lyell produced a condensed version titled Student's Elements of Geology that fulfilled the original purpose. Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man brought together Lyell's views on three key themes from
3074-652: The Geological Society of London . The new couple spent their honeymoon in Switzerland and Italy on a geological tour of the area. During the 1840s, Lyell travelled to the United States and Canada, and wrote two popular travel-and-geology books: Travels in North America (1845) and A Second Visit to the United States (1849). In 1866, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . After
3180-678: The Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Lyell was one of the first to donate books to help found the Chicago Public Library . In 1841, Lyell was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society . Lyell's wife died in 1873, and two years later (in 1875) Lyell himself died as he was revising the twelfth edition of Principles . He is buried in Westminster Abbey where there is a bust to him by William Theed in
3286-671: The Highlands . His family's second country home was in a completely different geological and ecological area: he spent much of his childhood at Bartley Lodge in the New Forest , in Hampshire in southern England. Lyell entered Exeter College, Oxford , in 1816, and attended William Buckland 's geological lectures. He graduated with a BA Hons. second class degree in classics, in December 1819, and gained his M.A. 1821. After graduation he took up law as
Charles Lyell - Misplaced Pages Continue
3392-502: The Holocene by French paleontologist Paul Gervais in 1867 – included all deposits from the era subject to human observation. In recent years Lyell's subdivisions have been widely discussed in relation to debates about the Anthropocene . In Principles of Geology (first edition, vol. 3, ch. 2, 1833) Lyell proposed that icebergs could be the means of transport for erratics . During periods of global warming, ice breaks off
3498-520: The Old Red Sandstone of southern Scotland, was named by Louis Agassiz in honour of Lyell. Sir Charles Lyell was buried at Westminster Abbey on 27 February 1875. The pallbearers included T. H. Huxley , the Rev. W. S. Symonds and Mr John Carrick Moore . Lyell had private means, and earned further income as an author. He came from a prosperous family, worked briefly as a lawyer in the 1820s, and held
3604-514: The Tertiary period into the Pliocene , Miocene , and Eocene was highly influential. He incorrectly conjectured that icebergs were the impetus behind the transport of glacial erratics , and that silty loess deposits might have settled out of flood waters. His creation of a separate period for human history, entitled the 'Recent', is widely cited as providing the foundations for the modern discussion of
3710-549: The Tory prime minister, Sir Robert Peel . In co-operation with Adam Sedgwick and Charles Lyell , he prepared the report leading to the establishment of the Geological Survey of Great Britain . Having become interested in the theory of Louis Agassiz , that polished and striated rocks as well as transported material, had been caused by ancient glaciers , he travelled to Switzerland, in 1838, to meet Agassiz and see for himself. He
3816-426: The post-nominal letters FRS . Every year, fellows elect up to ten new foreign members. Like fellows, foreign members are elected for life through peer review on the basis of excellence in science. As of 2016 , there are around 165 foreign members, who are entitled to use the post-nominal ForMemRS . Honorary Fellowship is an honorary academic title awarded to candidates who have given distinguished service to
3922-689: The survey voyage of the Beagle , and just before it set out FitzRoy gave Darwin Volume 1 of the first edition of Lyell's Principles . When the Beagle made its first stop ashore at St Jago in the Cape Verde islands, Darwin found rock formations which seen "through Lyell's eyes" gave him a revolutionary insight into the geological history of the island, an insight he applied throughout his travels. While in South America Darwin received Volume 2 which considered
4028-576: The 'Universal Deluge' two decades earlier, and subsequently of deep submergence by a new generation of geologists such as Charles Lyell, was in fact evidence of a major glaciation. He continued to live in Corpus Christi College and, in 1824, he became president of the Geological Society of London . Here he announced the discovery, at Stonesfield , of fossil bones of a giant reptile which he named Megalosaurus ('great lizard') and wrote
4134-485: The Action of a Universal Deluge which was published in 1823 and became a best seller. However, over the next decade as geology continued to progress Buckland changed his mind. In his famous Bridgewater Treatise, published in 1836, he acknowledged that the biblical account of Noah's flood could not be confirmed using geological evidence. By 1840 he was very actively promoting the view that what had been interpreted as evidence of
4240-610: The Creation of the Human Race, by extinct species of Animals and Vegetables, made up, like living Organic Bodies, of 'Clusters of Contrivances,' which demonstrate the exercise of stupendous Intelligence and Power. They further show that these extinct forms of Organic Life were so closely allied, by Unity in the principles of their construction, to Classes, Orders, and Families, which make up the existing Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, that they not only afford an argument of surpassing force, against
4346-449: The Origin of Species , Lyell finally offered a tepid endorsement of evolution in the tenth edition of Principles . Elements of Geology began as the fourth volume of the third edition of Principles : Lyell intended the book to act as a suitable field guide for students of geology. The systematic, factual description of geological formations of different ages contained in Principles grew so unwieldy, however, that Lyell split it off as
Charles Lyell - Misplaced Pages Continue
4452-587: The Prince Regent to endow an additional Readership, this time in Geology and he became the first holder of the new appointment, delivering his inaugural address on 15 May 1819. This was published in 1820 as Vindiciæ Geologiæ; or the Connexion of Geology with Religion explained , both justifying the new science of geology and reconciling geological evidence with the biblical accounts of creation and Noah's Flood . At
4558-463: The Principles of Geology, which the future historian will recognise as having produced a revolution in natural science, yet does not admit how incomprehensibly vast have been the past periods of time, may at once close this volume." Lyell helped to arrange the simultaneous publication in 1858 of papers by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection , despite his personal religious qualms about
4664-591: The Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society ( FRS , ForMemRS and HonFRS ) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge , including mathematics , engineering science , and medical science ". Fellowship of the Society, the oldest known scientific academy in continuous existence,
4770-439: The Royal Society has been described by The Guardian as "the equivalent of a lifetime achievement Oscar " with several institutions celebrating their announcement each year. Up to 60 new Fellows (FRS), honorary (HonFRS) and foreign members (ForMemRS) are elected annually in late April or early May, from a pool of around 700 proposed candidates each year. New Fellows can only be nominated by existing Fellows for one of
4876-655: The Society, we shall be free from this Obligation for the future". Since 2014, portraits of Fellows at the admissions ceremony have been published without copyright restrictions in Wikimedia Commons under a more permissive Creative Commons license which allows wider re-use. In addition to the main fellowships of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS & HonFRS), other fellowships are available which are applied for by individuals, rather than through election. These fellowships are research grant awards and holders are known as Royal Society Research Fellows . In addition to
4982-568: The UK and overseas. Highlights include his travels throughout Europe and the United States of America, the drafts of his correspondence with the likes of Charles Darwin, his geological and landscape sketches and his constant gathering of evidence and refinement of his theories. Principles of Geology , Lyell's first book, was also his most famous, most influential, and most important. First published in three volumes in 1830–33, it established Lyell's credentials as an important geological theorist and propounded
5088-521: The ancient spirit of speculation revived, and a desire manifestly shown to cut, rather than patiently untie, the Gordian Knot. -Sir Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology , 1854 edition, p. 196; quoted by Stephen Jay Gould . Lyell saw himself as "the spiritual saviour of geology, freeing the science from the old dispensation of Moses." The two terms, uniformitarianism and catastrophism , were both coined by William Whewell ; in 1866 R. Grove suggested
5194-463: The award of Fellowship (FRS, HonFRS & ForMemRS) and the Research Fellowships described above, several other awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society are also given. William Buckland William Buckland DD , FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster . He was also a geologist and palaeontologist . Buckland wrote
5300-417: The base of the skull upon which the brain rested, together with the two upper vertebrae of the neck, to be in an advanced state of caries, or decay. The irritation...was quite sufficient cause to give rise to all symptoms." Frank Buckland attributed the cause of death of both his parents to a severe accident years earlier. The plot for William's grave had been reserved, but when the gravedigger set to work, it
5406-481: The bones, that the cave in Kirkdale was, during a long succession of years, inhabited as a den of hyaenas, and that they dragged into its recesses the other animal bodies whose remains are found mixed indiscriminately with their own: this conjecture is rendered almost certain by the discovery I made, of many small balls of the solid calcareous excrement of an animal that had fed on bones... It was at first sight recognised by
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#17328448884915512-597: The cause of science, but do not have the kind of scientific achievements required of Fellows or Foreign Members. Honorary Fellows include the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (2022), Bill Bryson (2013), Melvyn Bragg (2010), Robin Saxby (2015), David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (2008), Onora O'Neill (2007), John Maddox (2000), Patrick Moore (2001) and Lisa Jardine (2015). Honorary Fellows are entitled to use
5618-529: The creation. While Buckland's analysis convinced him that the bones found in Kirkdale Cave had not been washed into the cave by a global flood, he still believed the thin layer of mud that covered the remains of the hyaena den had been deposited in the subsequent 'Universal Deluge'. He developed these ideas into his great scientific work Reliquiæ Diluvianæ, or, Observations on the Organic Remains attesting
5724-585: The doctrine of uniformitarianism . It was a work of synthesis, backed by his own personal observations on his travels. The central argument in Principles was that the present is the key to the past – a concept of the Scottish Enlightenment which David Hume had stated as "all inferences from experience suppose ... that the future will resemble the past", and James Hutton had described when he wrote in 1788 that "from what has actually been, we have data for concluding with regard to that which
5830-601: The doctrines of the Atheist and Polytheist; but supply a chain of connected evidence, amounting to demonstration, of the continuous Being, and of many of the highest Attributes of the One Living and True God. Following Charles Darwin 's return from the Beagle voyage , Buckland discussed with him the Galapagos land iguanas and Marine iguanas . He subsequently recommended Darwin's paper on
5936-411: The earth and environment. Lyell's scientific contributions included a pioneering explanation of climate change, in which shifting boundaries between oceans and continents could be used to explain long-term variations in temperature and rainfall. Lyell also gave influential explanations of earthquakes and developed the theory of gradual "backed up-building" of volcanoes . In stratigraphy his division of
6042-515: The fellowships described below: Every year, up to 52 new fellows are elected from the United Kingdom, the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations , and Ireland, which make up around 90% of the society. Each candidate is considered on their merits and can be proposed from any sector of the scientific community. Fellows are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science and are entitled to use
6148-461: The first full account of a fossil dinosaur , which he named Megalosaurus . His work proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire had been a prehistoric hyena den, for which he was awarded the Copley Medal . It was praised as an example of how scientific analysis could reconstruct events in the distant past. He pioneered the use of fossilised faeces in reconstructing ecosystems, coining
6254-719: The first full account of what would later be called a dinosaur . In 1825, Buckland was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . That year he resigned his college fellowship: he planned to take up the living of Stoke Charity in Hampshire but, before he could take up the appointment, he was made a Canon of Christ Church , a rich reward for academic distinction without serious administrative responsibilities. In December 1825 he married Mary Morland of Abingdon , Oxfordshire, an accomplished illustrator and collector of fossils . Their honeymoon
6360-422: The formation of atolls , which supported Lyell's uniformitarianism. On the return of the Beagle (October 1836) Lyell invited Darwin to dinner and from then on they were close friends. Although Darwin discussed evolutionary ideas with him from 1842, Lyell continued to reject evolution in each of the first nine editions of the Principles . He encouraged Darwin to publish, and following the 1859 publication of On
6466-467: The fossil marks. His daughter, author Elizabeth Oke Buckland Gordon, wrote a biography of her father that included appendices of positions held by Buckland, his membership in professional societies, and an index of his publications. On 18 January 1823 Buckland walked into Paviland Cave in south Wales, where he discovered a skeleton which he named the Red Lady of Paviland , as he at first supposed it to be
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#17328448884916572-414: The fossil record was explained by a series of successive divine creations that prepared the earth for humans. In the introduction he expressed the argument from design by asserting that the families and phyla of biology were "clusters of contrivance": The myriads of petrified Remains which are disclosed by the researches of Geology all tend to prove that our Planet has been occupied in times preceding
6678-455: The fossilised hyena dung he had found in Kirkdale Cave. He concluded: In all these various formations our Coprolites form records of warfare, waged by successive generations of inhabitants of our planet on one another: the imperishable phosphate of lime, derived from their digested skeletons, has become embalmed in the substance and foundations of the everlasting hills; and the general law of Nature which bids all to eat and be eaten in their turn,
6784-448: The fossils were the remains of these hyaenas and the animals they had eaten, rather than being remains of animals that had perished in the Flood and then carried from the tropics by the surging waters, as he and others had at first thought. In 1822 he wrote: It must already appear probable, from the facts above described, particularly from the comminuted state and apparently gnawed condition of
6890-597: The founding geology text. He was, along with the earlier John Playfair , the major advocate of James Hutton 's idea of uniformitarianism , that the earth was shaped entirely by slow-moving forces still in operation today, acting over a very long period of time. This was in contrast to catastrophism , an idea of abrupt geological changes, which had been adapted in England to explain landscape features—such as rivers much smaller than their associated valleys—that seemed impossible to explain other than through violent action. Criticizing
6996-587: The geographical distribution of plants and animals, and proposed that every species of plant or animal was descended from a pair or individual, originated in response to differing external conditions. Species would regularly go extinct, in a "struggle for existence" between hybrids, or a "war one with another" due to population pressure. He was vague about how replacement species formed, portraying this as an infrequent occurrence which could rarely be observed. The leading man of science Sir John Herschel wrote from Cape Town on 20 February 1836, thanking Lyell for sending
7102-784: The geology of the Quaternary Period of earth history: glaciers, evolution, and the age of the human race . First published in 1863, it went through three editions that year, with a fourth and final edition appearing in 1873. The book was widely regarded as a disappointment because of Lyell's equivocal treatment of evolution . Lyell, a highly religious man with a strong belief in the special status of human reason, had great difficulty reconciling his beliefs with natural selection . Lyell's geological interests ranged from volcanoes and geological dynamics through stratigraphy , palaeontology , and glaciology to topics that would now be classified as prehistoric archaeology and paleoanthropology . He
7208-530: The good of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and to pursue the ends for which the same was founded; that we will carry out, as far as we are able, those actions requested of us in the name of the Council; and that we will observe the Statutes and Standing Orders of the said Society. Provided that, whensoever any of us shall signify to the President under our hands, that we desire to withdraw from
7314-429: The ideas of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in some detail. Lyell rejected Lamarck's idea of organic evolution , proposing instead "Centres of Creation" to explain diversity and territory of species. However, as discussed below , many of his letters show he was fairly open to the idea of evolution. In geology Darwin was very much Lyell's disciple, and brought back observations and his own original theorising, including ideas about
7420-447: The intervention of intermediate causes. I left this rather to be inferred, not thinking it worth while to offend a certain class of persons by embodying in words what would only be a speculation." Whewell subsequently questioned this topic, and in March 1837 Lyell told him: As a result of his letters and, no doubt, personal conversations, Huxley and Ernst Haeckel were convinced that, at
7526-530: The keeper of the Menagerie at Exeter Change, as resembling, in both form and appearance, the faeces of the spotted or cape hyaena, which he stated to be greedy of bones beyond all other beasts in his care. While criticised by some, Buckland's analysis of Kirkland Cave and other bone caves was widely seen as a model for how careful analysis could be used to reconstruct the Earth's past, and the Royal Society awarded Buckland
7632-644: The north aisle. Lyell was knighted ( Kt ) in 1848, and later, in 1864, made a baronet ( Bt ), which is an hereditary honour. He was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1858 and the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society in 1866. Mount Lyell , the highest peak in Yosemite National Park , is named after him; the crater Lyell on the Moon and a crater on Mars were named in his honour; Mount Lyell in western Tasmania, Australia, located in
7738-566: The number and proportion of marine shells encased within. Based on this the third volume of his Principles of Geology , published in 1833, proposed dividing the Tertiary period into four parts, which he named the Eocene , Miocene , Pliocene , and Recent. In 1839, Lyell termed the Pleistocene epoch, distinguishing a more recent fossil layer from the Pliocene. The Recent epoch – renamed
7844-691: The older layers. Carbon-data tests have since dated the skeleton , now known to be male as from circa 33,000 years before present (BP) . It is the oldest anatomically modern human found in the United Kingdom. The fossil hunter Mary Anning noticed that stony objects known as " bezoar stones" were often found in the abdominal region of ichthyosaur skeletons found in the Lias formation at Lyme Regis . She also noted that if such stones were broken open they often contained fossilised fish bones and scales, and sometimes bones from small ichthyosaurs . These observations by Anning led Buckland to propose in 1829 that
7950-560: The other dishes noted by guests. Buckland was followed in this hobby by his son Frank . On one occasion, Buckland (the father) consumed, perhaps unintentionally, a portion of the mummified heart of King Louis XIV . Dorsum Buckland , a wrinkle ridge on the Moon , is named after him. Buckland Island (known today as Ani-Jima), in the Bonin Islands (Ogasawara-Jima), was named after him by Captain Beechey on 9 June 1827. In 1846, William Buckland
8056-408: The poles and floats across submerged continents, carrying debris with it, he conjectured. When the iceberg melts, it rains down sediments upon the land. Because this theory could account for the presence of diluvium, the word drift became the preferred term for the loose, unsorted material, today called till . Furthermore, Lyell believed that the accumulation of fine angular particles covering much of
8162-509: The post nominal letters HonFRS . Statute 12 is a legacy mechanism for electing members before official honorary membership existed in 1997. Fellows elected under statute 12 include David Attenborough (1983) and John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne (1991). The Council of the Royal Society can recommend members of the British royal family for election as Royal Fellow of the Royal Society . As of 2023 there are four royal fellows: Elizabeth II
8268-550: The post of Professor of Geology at King's College London in the 1830s. From 1830 onward his books provided both income and fame. Each of his three major books was a work continually in progress. All three went through multiple editions during his lifetime, although many of his friends (such as Darwin) thought the first edition of the Principles was the best written. Lyell used each edition to incorporate additional material, rearrange existing material, and revisit old conclusions in light of new evidence. Throughout his life, Lyell kept
8374-546: The proposal is being made. There is no limit on the number of nominations made each year. In 2015, there were 654 candidates for election as Fellows and 106 candidates for Foreign Membership. The Council of the Royal Society oversees the selection process and appoints 10 subject area committees, known as Sectional Committees, to recommend the strongest candidates for election to the Fellowship. The final list of up to 52 Fellowship candidates and up to 10 Foreign Membership candidates
8480-453: The reliance of his contemporaries on what he argued were ad hoc explanations, Lyell wrote, Never was there a doctrine more calculated to foster indolence, and to blunt the keen edge of curiosity, than this assumption of the discordance between the former and the existing causes of change... The student was taught to despond from the first. Geology, it was affirmed, could never arise to the rank of an exact science... [With catastrophism] we see
8586-506: The remains of a local prostitute. Although Buckland found the skeleton in Paviland Cave in the same strata as the bones of extinct mammals (including mammoth ), Buckland shared the view of Georges Cuvier that no humans had coexisted with any extinct animals, and he attributed the skeleton's presence there to a grave having been dug in historical times, possibly by the same people who had constructed some nearby pre-Roman fortifications, into
8692-470: The rocks beneath the secondary strata associated with the age of reptiles . Murchison would later name these older strata, characterised by marine invertebrate fossils, as Silurian , after a tribe that had lived in that area centuries earlier. In 1832 Buckland presided over the second meeting of the British Association , which was then held at Oxford. Buckland was commissioned to contribute one of
8798-509: The role of earthworms in soil formation for publication, praising it as "a new & important theory to explain Phenomena of universal occurrence on the surface of the Earth—in fact a new Geological Power", while rightly rejecting Darwin's suggestion that chalkland could have been formed in a similar way. By this time Buckland was a prominent and influential scientific celebrity and a friend of
8904-460: The rural population of Islip, while continuing to lecture on geology at Oxford. In 1847, he was appointed a trustee in the British Museum and, in 1848, he was awarded the Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society of London. Around the end of 1850, William Buckland contracted a disorder of the neck and brain, and died of it in 1856. Frank Buckland reported that an autopsy showed "the portion of
9010-491: 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
9116-479: The set of eight Bridgewater Treatises , "On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation". This took him almost five years' work and was published in 1836 with the title Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology . His volume included a detailed compendium of his theories of day-age, gap theory and a form of progressive creationism where faunal succession revealed by
9222-443: The simpler term continuity for Lyell's view, but the old terms persisted. In various revised editions (12 in all, through 1872), Principles of Geology was the most influential geological work in the middle of the 19th century, and did much to put geology on a modern footing. Lyell noted the "economic advantages" that geological surveys could provide, citing their felicity in mineral-rich countries and provinces. Modern surveys, like
9328-479: The stones And examine each stratum that lies around For he's quite in his element underground Buckland preferred to do his field palaeontology and geological work wearing an academic gown . His lectures were notable for their dramatic delivery. When he lectured indoors he would bring his presentations to life by imitating the movements of the dinosaurs under discussion. Buckland's passion for scientific observation and experiment extended to his home, where he had
9434-431: The stones were fossilised faeces. He coined the name coprolite for them; the name came to be the general name for all fossilised faeces. Buckland also concluded that the spiral markings on the fossils indicated that ichthyosaurs had spiral ridges in their intestines similar to those of modern sharks , and that some of these coprolites were black because the ichthyosaur had ingested ink sacs from belemnites . He wrote
9540-643: The study of nature. Lyell's grandfather, also Charles Lyell, had made the family fortune supplying the Royal Navy at Montrose , enabling him to buy Kinnordy House. The family seat is located in Strathmore , near the Highland Boundary Fault . Round the house, in the strath , is good farmland, but within a short distance to the north-west, on the other side of the fault, are the Grampian Mountains in
9646-482: The term coprolites . Buckland followed the Gap Theory in interpreting the biblical account of Genesis as two widely separated episodes of creation. It had emerged as a way to reconcile the scriptural account with discoveries in geology suggesting the earth was very old. Early in his career Buckland believed he had found evidence of the biblical flood , but later saw that the glaciation theory of Louis Agassiz gave
9752-558: The theory independently. Lyell's views on gradual change and the power of a long time scale were important because Darwin thought that populations of an organism changed very slowly. Although Lyell rejected evolution at the time of writing the Principles , after the Darwin–Wallace papers and the Origin Lyell wrote in one of his notebooks on 3 May 1860: Lyell's acceptance of natural selection, Darwin's proposed mechanism for evolution,
9858-483: The theory, he was now satisfied that glaciation had been the origin of much of the surface deposits covering Britain. In 1845 he was appointed by Sir Robert Peel to the vacant Deanery of Westminster (he succeeded Samuel Wilberforce ). Soon after, he was inducted to the living of Islip , near Oxford, a preferment attached to the deanery. As Dean and head of Chapter, Buckland was involved in repair and maintenance of Westminster Abbey and in preaching suitable sermons to
9964-433: The theory. He later published evidence from geology of the time man had existed on the earth. Lyell was born into a wealthy family, on 14 November 1797, at the family's estate house , Kinnordy House , near Kirriemuir in Forfarshire. He was the eldest of ten children. Lyell's father, also named Charles Lyell , was noted as a translator and scholar of Dante . An accomplished botanist, it was he who first exposed his son to
10070-473: The time he wrote Principles , he believed new species had arisen by natural methods. Adam Sedgwick wrote worried letters to him about this. By the time Darwin returned from the Beagle survey expedition in 1836, he had begun to doubt Lyell's ideas about the permanence of species. He continued to be a close personal friend, and Lyell was one of the first scientists to support On the Origin of Species , though he did not subscribe to all its contents. Lyell
10176-443: The upheaval argument supported by other geologists. Lyell was a key figure in establishing the classification of more recent geological deposits, long known as the Tertiary period. From May 1828, until February 1829, he travelled with Roderick Impey Murchison (1792–1871) to the south of France (Auvergne volcanic district) and to Italy. In these areas he concluded that the recent strata (rock layers) could be categorised according to
10282-426: The world (today called loess ) was a deposit settled from mountain flood water. Today some of Lyell's mechanisms for geological processes have been disproven, though many have stood the test of time. His observational methods and general analytical framework remain in use today as foundational principles in geology. Lyell initially accepted the conventional view of other men of science, that the fossil record indicated
10388-528: Was a year touring Europe, with visits to famous geologists and geological sites. She continued to assist him in his work, as well as having nine children, five of whom survived to adulthood. His son Frank Buckland became a well known practical naturalist, author, and Inspector of Salmon Fisheries. On one occasion, Mary helped him decipher footmarks found in a slab of sandstone by covering the kitchen table with paste, while he fetched their pet tortoise and confirmed his intuition, that tortoise footprints matched
10494-495: Was also a friend of Darwin's closest colleagues, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Huxley , but unlike them he struggled to square his religious beliefs with evolution. This inner struggle has been much commented on. He had particular difficulty in believing in natural selection as the main motive force in evolution. Lyell and Hooker were instrumental in arranging the peaceful co-publication of the theory of natural selection by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858: each had arrived at
10600-463: Was appointed Reader in mineralogy, in succession to John Kidd, giving lively and popular lectures with increasing emphasis on geology and palaeontology . As an unofficial curator of the Ashmolean Museum , he built up collections, touring Europe and coming into contact with scholars including Georges Cuvier . In 1818, Buckland was elected a fellow of the Royal Society . That year he persuaded
10706-611: Was convinced and was reminded of what he had seen in Scotland, Wales and northern England but had previously attributed to the Flood. When Agassiz came to Britain for the Glasgow meeting of the British Association, in 1840, they went on an extended tour of Scotland and found evidence there of former glaciation. In that year Buckland had become president of the Geological Society again and, despite their hostile reaction to his presentation of
10812-568: Was equivocal, and came in the tenth edition of Principles . The Antiquity of Man (published in early February 1863, just before Huxley's Man's place in nature ) drew these comments from Darwin to Huxley: "I am fearfully disappointed at Lyell's excessive caution" and "The book is a mere 'digest'". Quite strong remarks: no doubt Darwin resented Lyell's repeated suggestion that he owed a lot to Lamarck , whom he (Darwin) had always specifically rejected. Darwin's daughter Henrietta (Etty) wrote to her father: "Is it fair that Lyell always calls your theory
10918-412: Was found that an outcrop of solid Jurassic limestone lay just below ground level and explosives had to be used for excavation. This may have been a last jest by the noted geologist, reminiscent of Richard Whately 's Elegy intended for Professor Buckland written in 1820: Where shall we our great Professor inter That in peace may rest his bones? If we hew him a rocky sepulchre He'll rise and break
11024-421: Was not a Royal Fellow, but provided her patronage to the society, as all reigning British monarchs have done since Charles II of England . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1951) was elected under statute 12, not as a Royal Fellow. The election of new fellows is announced annually in May, after their nomination and a period of peer-reviewed selection. Each candidate for Fellowship or Foreign Membership
11130-546: Was rector of St. Nicholas in Islip and is commemorated on a plaque in the south aisle of the church and the "East Window" was dedicated to the memory of Buckland and his wife in 1861. A plaque is dedicated to him near his summer home by the Old Rectory, The Walk, Islip (10 August 2008). There is also a bust by Henry Weekes in the south aisle at Westminster Abbey . In 1972, botanist Heikki Roivainen circumscribed Bucklandiella ,
11236-418: Was to explain the cause of earthquakes. Lyell, in contrast focused on recent earthquakes (150 yrs), evidenced by surface irregularities such as faults, fissures, stratigraphic displacements and depressions. Lyell's work on volcanoes focused largely on Vesuvius and Etna , both of which he had earlier studied. His conclusions supported gradual building of volcanoes, so-called "backed up-building", as opposed to
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