GEOLOGIST

Charles Lyell

1797 - 1875

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Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (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 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 the earth and environment. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Charles Lyell is the 6th most popular geologist (down from 5th in 2019), the 536th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 408th in 2019) and the most popular British Geologist.

Charles Lyell is most famous for his book Principles of Geology, in which he argued that the Earth was shaped by natural forces and not by catastrophes.

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Among GEOLOGISTS

Among geologists, Charles Lyell ranks 6 out of 90. Before him are Charles Francis Richter, Alfred Wegener, Nicolas Steno, Milutin Milanković, and Inge Lehmann. After him are Friedrich Mohs, James Hutton, Mary Anning, Eduard Suess, Andrija Mohorovičić, and Francis Beaufort.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1797, Charles Lyell ranks 12. Before him are Adolphe Thiers, Hiroshige, Shamil, 3rd Imam of Dagestan, Ghalib, Joseph Henry, and Paul Delaroche. After him are Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Ferdinand von Wrangel, Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, and Alfred de Vigny. Among people deceased in 1875, Charles Lyell ranks 10. Before him are Jean-François Millet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Éliphas Lévi, Andrew Johnson, John Edward Gray, and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest. After him are Isaac Singer, Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander, Charles Wheatstone, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 12th Dalai Lama, and Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy.

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Charles Lyell ranks 536 out of 8,785. Before him are Cynric (450), John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650), Rudolf Abel (1903), Sweyn II of Denmark (1020), Patrick Stewart (1940), and George Eliot (1819). After him are Robert Burns (1759), Princess Margaret of Connaught (1882), Robert Plant (1948), John Boyd Dunlop (1840), Archibald Hill (1886), and Adele (1988).

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Among GEOLOGISTS In United Kingdom

Among geologists born in United Kingdom, Charles Lyell ranks 1. After him are James Hutton (1726), Mary Anning (1799), Eduard Suess (1831), Gideon Mantell (1790), William Smith (1769), Adam Sedgwick (1785), William Buckland (1784), Arthur Holmes (1890), William Nicol (1770), John Phillips (1800), and Archibald Geikie (1835).

British born Geologists

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