Geology of Scotland - Geologists in Scotland

Geologists in Scotland

Scottish geologists and non-Scots working in Scotland have played an important part in the development of the science, especially during its pioneering period in the late 18th century and 19th century.

• James Hutton (1726–1797), the "father of modern geology," was born in Edinburgh. His Theory of the Earth, published in 1788 proposed the idea of a rock cycle in which weathered rocks form new sediments and that granites were of volcanic origin. At Glen Tilt in the Cairngorm mountains he found granite penetrating metamorphic schists. This showed to him that granite formed from the cooling of molten rock, not precipitation out of water as the Neptunists of the time believed. This sight is said to have "filled him with delight". Regarding geological time scales he famously remarked "that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end."
• John Playfair (1748–1819) from Angus was a mathematician who developed an interest in geology through his friendship with Hutton. His 1802 Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth were influential in the latter's success.
• John MacCulloch (1773–1835) was born in Guernsey and like Hutton before him, studied medicine at Edinburgh University. A president of the Geological Society from 1815–17, he is best remembered for producing the first geological map of Scotland, published in 1836. 'Macculloch's Tree', a 40-foot (12 m) high fossil conifer in the Mull lava flows, is named after him.

• Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875) was also from Angus and his Principles of Geology built on Hutton's ideas. Lyell's theory of uniformitarianism and his interpretation of geologic change as the steady accumulation of minute changes over enormously long spans of time was a central theme in the Principles, and a powerful influence on the young Charles Darwin. (Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, loaned Darwin a copy of Volume 1 of the first edition just before they set out on the 'Voyage of the Beagle'.) Lyell is buried in Westminster Abbey.

• Sir Roderick Murchison (1792–1871) was born in Ross and Cromarty and served under Wellesley in the Peninsular War. Knighted in 1846, his main achievements were the investigation of Silurian rocks published as The Silurian System in 1839 and of Permian deposits in Russia. The Murchison crater on the Moon and at least fifteen geographical locations on Earth are named after him.
• Hugh Miller (1802–56) from Cromarty was a stonemason and self-taught geologist. His 1841 publication The Old Red Sandstone became a bestseller. The fossils founds in these rocks were one of his fascinations, although his deep religious convictions led him to oppose the idea of biological evolution.
• James Croll (1821–90) developed a theory of climate change based on changes in the Earth's orbit. Born near Perth, he was self-educated and his interest in science led to his becoming appointed as a janitor in the museum at the Andersonian College and Museum, Glasgow in 1859. His 1864 paper On the Physical Cause of the Changes of Climate during Glacial Epochs led to a position in the Edinburgh office of the Geological Survey of Scotland, as keeper of maps and correspondence, where Sir Archibald Geikie, encouraged his research. He was eventually to become a Fellow of the Royal Society.
• Sir Archibald Geikie (1835–1924) was the first to recognise that there had been multiple glaciations, and his 1863 paper On the glacial drift of Scotland was a landmark in the emergent theories of glaciation. He became Director-General of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom in 1888 and was also well known for his work on vulcanism.
• Arthur Holmes (1890–1965) was born in England and became Regius Professor of Geology at the University of Edinburgh in 1943. His magnum opus was Principles of Physical Geology, first published in 1944, in which he proposed the idea that slow moving convection currents in the Earth's mantle created 'continental drift' as it was then called. He also pioneered the discipline of geochronology. He lived long enough to see the theory of plate tectonics become widely accepted, and he is regarded as one of the most influential geologists of the 20th century.