Charles Lyell

Lore & Background

Lyell was born into a wealthy family at Kinnordy House near Kirriemuir in Forfarshire, the eldest of ten children. His father, a translator and scholar of Dante and an accomplished botanist, first exposed him to the study of nature. Lyell entered Exeter College, Oxford in 1816, attended William Buckland's geological lectures, and graduated with a BA Hons. second class degree in classics in December 1819. After graduation he took up law, entering Lincoln's Inn in 1820, but as his eyesight deteriorated he turned to geology as a full-time profession. His first paper, 'On a recent formation of freshwater limestone in Forfarshire', was presented in 1826, and by 1827 he had abandoned law.

Reader's Guide

Lyell's central contribution was the doctrine of uniformitarianism, arguing that the earth's history could be explained by natural processes still operating at similar intensities. His Principles of Geology (1830–33) convinced a wide range of readers of the significance of 'deep time' for understanding the earth and environment. He gave influential explanations of earthquakes, developed the theory of gradual 'backed up-building' of volcanoes, and divided the Tertiary period into the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene. He incorrectly conjectured that icebergs transported glacial erratics and that loess deposits settled from flood waters. His creation of a separate period for human history, the 'Recent', provided foundations for the modern discussion of the Anthropocene. Lyell was a close friend of Charles Darwin, contributing significantly to Darwin's thinking on evolution, and helped arrange the simultaneous publication in 1858 of papers by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection, despite his personal religious qualms. He was knighted in 1848, made a baronet in 1864, and awarded the Copley Medal in 1858 and the Wollaston Medal in 1866.

Did You Know?

• Lyell incorrectly conjectured that icebergs were the impetus behind the transport of glacial erratics.
• He created a separate period for human history entitled the 'Recent', which provided foundations for the modern discussion of the Anthropocene.
• Lyell helped arrange the simultaneous publication in 1858 of papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection.
• Mount Lyell, the highest peak in Yosemite National Park, is named after him.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"When we study history we obtain a more profound insight into human nature by instituting a comparison between the present and former states of society." — Charles Lyell "In a rude state of society all great calamities are regarded by the people as judgments of God on the wickedness of man." — Charles Lyell "It seems, then, that the Greeks had not only derived from preceding nations, but had also, in some slight degree, deduced from their own observations, the theory of great periodical revolutions in the inorganic world." — Charles Lyell "William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin & Peter Guthrie Tait, Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1867) Vol. 1, p. 714." — Charles Lyell