Lyell, Sir Charles 1797-1875
Scottish geologist

Born in Kinnordy, Forfarshire, he was educated at Ringwood, Salisbury and Midhurst, studied law at Exeter College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar. William Buckland interested him in geology at Oxford, and he later became secretary to the Geological Society of London. He decided to give up law during an excursion to France in 1828 with Roderick Murchison, and on his return he completed the first volume of his Principles of Geology (1830). He had been appointed Professor of Geology at King's College London, by 1832. His authoritative Principles of Geology (1830-33) was very influential, as was his memoir Consolidation of lava upon steep slopes of Etna, in which he refuted the elevation crater theory of Leopold von Buch. He made two long geological tours of the USA and published his observations as Travels in North America (1845) and A Second Visit to the United States (1849). His 'uniformitarian' principle taught that the greatest geological changes might have been produced by the forces in operation now, given sufficient time. His interest was primarily in the biological side of geology, and his work had as great a contemporary influence as Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. Lyell's other publications include The Elements of Geology (1838) and The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man (1863), a study discussing the nature and significance of worked flints found in the valley of the Somme, and which startled the public by its unbiased attitude towards Darwin. He was knighted in 1848.

Bibliography: L G Wilson, Charles Lyell, The Years to 1841: The Revolution in Geology (1972)