Lyell, Sir Charles, 1797-1875 (1st Baronet | Scottish geologist)
Dates
- Existence: 14 November 1797 - 22 February 1875
Biography
Charles Lyell Project - 2020
Biography
Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) wrote many geological papers, mainly published by the Geological Society of London (1807-present day), but his reputation rests almost entirely on his work Principles of Geology, ( 1830-1833) inspired in part by a European tour with Sir Roderick Impey Murchison and also his knowledge of James Hutton's Theory of the Earth. In this work, first published in three volumes, Lyell propounded his theory of uniformitarianism, which holds that all geological formations can be explianed solely in terms of natural processes which can be observed in operation today. This ran counter to the prevailing theory which assumed that mountain-building and other geological phenomena could only have occurred as a result of major cataclysmic events in the past. Lyell's uniformitarianism was developed in order to reject the progressionism implicit in the prevailing theory, which he saw as leading to evolution, an idea which he strongly opposed. Ironically, Lyell's opposition to evolution brought the idea to scientists' attention and the vast time scales required by uniformitarianism enabled Darwin to conceive of his version of evolutionary theory. Lyell's other works include: The Elements of Geology, ( 1837) Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, ( 1863-1873).
Charles Lyell's father was an active naturalist, and Lyell had access to an elaborate library which included works on geology. Whilst at Oxford University he attended lectures by William Buckland, professor of geology, that triggered his enthusiasm for the subject. He became more and more interested in the subject and made many geological tours with his family in England and Scotland in 1817, and on the Continent the following year, the first of many trips abroad. In 1828 he explored the volcanic region of the Auvergne, then went to Mount Etna to gather supporting evidence for the theory of geology he would expound in his Principles of Geology . He also made numerous tours of the United States, described in Travels in North America, ( 1909) . His writings deal with the rock cycle, which explains how one type of rock is transformed into another. Lyell also expounds notions on volcanic forces, deposition, erosion and palaeontology in his writings. His work helped to establish the modern study of geology and geologic time. In addition to rock formation, he also wrote about palaeontology. It was Lyell who proposed the idea of reference fossils - fossils which are indicative of certain periods of geologic time. He divided geologic time into four periods: Pleistocene, Older Pliocene, Miocene and Eocene. His final work, The Antiquity of Man, ( 1863) , was a wide-ranging study of the human fossil record. In this work Lyell finally accepted Darwinian evolution, but still tried to insist that there was a radical discontinuity between humankind and the rest of the animal kingdom.
In 1823 Lyell was appointed secretary of the Geological Society of London, and 3 years later they made him their foreign secretary. He was twice President in 1836 and 1850. Lyell was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826. He was awarded a Royal Medal in 1834 and the Copley Medal in 1858 and in 1866 he was awarded the Wollaston Medal. In 1832 he was the first professor of geology at King's College, London, and became President of the British Association in 1864.
Found in 1132 Collections and/or Records:
Letters from Beck, Henrik Henriksen to Charles Lyell, 1837
Dr Beck on Recent & Fossil Conchology – Copenhagen 1837. Geography of Shells
Notes from Henrik Henriksen Beck listing common Genera of marine animals by geographical zones. In these notes, Beck mainly lists mollusks in the Arctic Sea. Other zones such as the Atlantic Sea and the northern hemisphere are also featured in the list.
Letters from Beckles, Samuel Husbands to Charles Lyell, 25 December 1856 - 13 July 1857
Summarised by Lyell as:
1) Purbeck Oolite
2) Purbeck Dirt bed - December 12th day of finding the fossil mammal's jaw.
Letters from Bell, Lady Marian, to Charles Lyell, 26 June 1873 - February 1877
Condolences on the death of Mary E. Lyell. An account copied from Lady Bell's notebook titled ''Sir Charles and Lady Lyell'. Gives her account of meeting Lyell saying 'Mrs Somerville she introduced to us Charles Lyell as a 'very promising youth from Oxford'. We met often afterwards at Leonard Horner's- Geology was then their common pursuit".
Letters from Belt, Thomas to Charles Lyell, 1 February 1874 - 29 March 1874
Summarised by Lyell as:
1) Priority as to division of Upper and Lower Cambrian
2) Ice Scooping of Lakes
3) Talk with Jamieson on Glacial Periods and thanks for [book] Students Elements
4) On Geikies Ice Age.
Letters from Berthelot, Sabin to Charles Lyell, 12 February 1857
On Helix Tiarella and habitats of other land shells published as from [?] Canaries.
Letters from Bertrand de Doue, Jacques-Mathieu to Charles Lyell, 16 December 1836 - 23 September 1859
Letters relating to the Fossil Man of St Denise sent to Lyell, summarised as:
1) Fossils of Freshwater in Velay [Caymans?] Anthracotheriinae in wood dilat:. ruminants etc.
2) Coloured hand drawn map showing locations around Denise.
Letters from Beyrich, Heinrich Ernst to Charles Lyell, May 1857- 1859
Original letter in German with English translation. Original summary is "Beyrich May 1857 criticisms on supplement Barrande's Colonies".
Letters from Binkhorst J.T. to Charles Lyell, 23 July 1860 - 1861
Summarised by Lyell as:
1) Loess Fossil Man Caves of Meuse [Belgium]. Folio 286 is a map of the site
2) Leyden Coberg Human jaw Crahayes [sic] report
3) Maestricht human skulls
4) On cave-bones etc. 1860-1.
Letters from Binney, Edward William to Charles Lyell, 24 September 1850- 28 May 1870
Letters from Birch, S., to Charles Lyell, 17 December 1861 - 9 February 1863
Discussion of Egyptian antiquities - continuation of discussion previously between the author and Leonard Horner. Thanking Lyell for his presentation of a copy of 'Antiquity of Man'.