Lyell, Sir Charles
Full Name: Sir Charles Lyell
Achievements: Developed and publicized the geological theory of "uniformitarianism" that helped make possible Darwin’s theory of evolution
Born: November 14, 1797; Kinnordy (Kerrimuir), Scotland
Died: February 22, 1875; London, England (Aged 77)
Field & Discipline: Science; Geology
Language: English
Father: Charles Lyell
Mother: Frances Smith
Siblings: Frances; Henry; Marianne; Thomas
Spouse: Mary E. Horner
Children: None
Education: School at Ringwood; Dr. Radcliffe's School in Salisbury; Grammar school at Midhurst; Oxford University
Major Work:
"Principles of Geology"
Life & Times:
At Oxford Lyell attended the lectures of [taught by] Buckland*, a follower of the Neptunist school of geology, which believed that rock strata resulted from silt being laid down over time under the ocean, then thrown up by geologic events.
He used the opportunity of a trip with his family through England and Scotland in 1817 and to the Continent in 1818 to further his interest in geology. In the Alps, he observed the effects of glaciers and the erosion caused by mountain torrents.
In 1819, he began to study law. The same year, the Geological Society elected him a member.
In 1820, on another trip across Europe, Lyell noticed that towns that had been ports in Roman times were now often as much as five miles inland. He attributed this to debris flowing out from the Apennine mountain rivers and forming a coastal plain.
Lyell began to develop geological views that differed both from Neptunism and the accepted Biblical version of the creation of the Earth. In 1822 he began to practise law but kept up his interest in geology. In 1823, he was one of a geological party, including Buckland, who visited the Isle of Wight.
On a trip to Paris in 1823, he met [met] Cuvier*, a supporter of the "catastrophist" view of evolution, which held that successive major natural cataclysms had accounted for the different stages of evolution. He also met the great explorer, [met] Alexander von Humboldt*.
In 1824, he accompanied Buckland on a field trip to Scotland. In 1825, he and [collaborated with] Scrope* took joint secretaryship of the Geological Society. In 1826, Lyell was elected fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1828, Lyell gave up his law practise to devote himself to geology. Between May, 1828, and February, 1829, accompanied by [travelled with] Roderick Murchison*, he took a geological trip through France, across the Swiss Alps, into Italy and south to Sicily. Much of the trip was spent examining volcanoes.
The first volume of Lyell's great work, "Principles of Geology", appeared in 1830, a year before he was appointed professor of geology at King's College, London. (The second and third volumes would be published in 1832 and 1833.
Throughout his life, Lyell constantly revised and updated the work, the last edition being printed in 1875, after his death). In "Principles" Lyell argued against catastrophism. Though many of his ideas had been expressed 50 years earlier by [a follower of] Hutton*, Lyell was able to explain himself more clearly than Hutton and make the text more comprehensible and accessible.
Lyell's theory of geology, based on Hutton, came to be known as ‘uniformitarianism.’ Lyell and Hutton believed that the geological structure of the earth evolved slowly through lengthy processes like wind- and water-erosion. At a time when people believed (interpreting the Book of Genesis) that the earth was 6,000 years old, Lyell suggested that the planet's oldest rocks were possibly as much as 240 million years old, a theory that provoked shock and alarm among conservative scientists. But Lyell was sufficiently persuasive to encourage other researchers, among them [influenced] Charles Darwin*, to use his theories in their own work.
In 1856, Lyell urged Darwin to finish his book on evolution and agreed to present Darwin's paper on natural selection to the Linnaean Society in 1858. At the same time, Lyell and his friend, [a pal of] Joseph Hooker*, presented a similar paper by [knew] Wallace* to the Society. Lyell never wholly accepted Darwin's theory of evolution, saying there was not enough human fossil evidence to support it. He believed, as did Wallace, that Divine intervention might have created new species, and that this was the origin of human life.
Lyell made two geological trips to the United States and Canada, exploring in Ohio, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Other books by Lyell included: "Elements of Geology", two accounts of his travels in North America, and "Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man", in which he went further than Darwin, attempting to trace human origins through the analysis of human fossil remains in southern France, Liege in Belgium, and at nearby Neanderthal.
Extra Connections: His work related to that of [work related to] Mallet*, [work related to] Conybeare*, [work related to] Witham*, and [work related to] Asa Gray*.
Worked on university reforms with [collaborated with] Whewell*.
Knew [knew] Robert Browning*, [knew] Somerville* and [knew] Kingsley*
Was friends with [a pal of] DG Rossetti*
He was influenced by the work of [influenced by] John Playfair*
He was an admirer of [a fan of] Baden Powell*
He influenced the work of [influenced] Dana*
Assessment: Brilliantly synthesized geology with archaeology and anthropology
Oneliner: Charles Lyell, geologist
Bibliography:
- Bailey, Sir Edward, Charles Lyell, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.; London, Edinburgh, Paris, Melbourne, Johannesburg, Toronto and New York, 1962.