British geologist, the eldest son of Charles Lyell of Kinnordy, Forfarshire, and born on the 14th of November 1797, on the family estate in Scotland. Because this theory could account for the presence of diluvium, the word drift became the preferred term for the loose, unsorted material, today called till. This generous support began with the original archival donation from the Lyell family in 1927. He grew up in the New Forest in Hampshire where, encouraged by his father, he developed a keen interest in natural history. [7] He was, along with the earlier John Playfair, the major advocate of James Hutton's idea of uniformitarianism, that the earth was shaped entirely by slow-moving forces still in operation today, acting over a very long period of time. Charles Lyell war das älteste von zehn Kindern. An accomplished botanist, it was he who first exposed his son to the study of nature. He discussed the geographical distribution of plants and animals, and proposed that every species of plant or animal was descended from a pair or individual, originated in response to differing external conditions. In 1832, Lyell married Mary Horner in Bonn, daughter of Leonard Horner (1785–1864), also associated with the Geological Society of London. He was Charles Darwin’s closest friend. 2, 1833)[8] Lyell proposed that icebergs could be the means of transport for erratics. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. In various revised editions (12 in all, through 1872), Principles of Geology was the most influential geological work in the middle of the 19th century, and did much to put geology on a modern footing. First published in three volumes in 1830–33, it established Lyell's credentials as an important geological theorist and propounded the doctrine of uniformitarianism. From 1830 to 1833 his multi-volume Principles of Geology was published. Although Lyell rejected evolution at the time of writing the Principles,[40] after the Darwin–Wallace papers and the Origin Lyell wrote in one of his notebooks on 3 May 1860: Lyell's acceptance of natural selection, Darwin's proposed mechanism for evolution, was equivocal, and came in the tenth edition of Principles. Gideon Mantell. He was the eldest of ten children. They were partners in science, with Mary accompanying Charles on field trips. "[31], In the first edition of Principles, the first volume briefly set out Lyell's concept of a steady state with no real progression of fossils. It sold well, and it "shattered the tacit agreement that mankind should be the sole preserve of theologians and historians". He died, possibly from an overdose, in November 1852. Enjoy! Each of his three major books was a work continually in progress. 莱尔出生于苏格兰，是家里十个小孩中的老大。莱尔的父亲也叫做查尔斯，是个略有一点名气的植物学家，他也是第一个让小查尔斯接触到自然博物学的人。莱尔在牛津大学的埃克塞特学院的学业… Lyell's work on volcanoes focused largely on Vesuvius and Etna, both of which he had earlier studied. In November 1827, after William Broderip found a Middle Jurassic fossil of the early mammal Didelphis, Lyell told his father that "There was everything but man even as far back as the Oolite. Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury on February 12, 1809. He drew his explanations from field studies conducted directly before he went to work on the founding geology text. Learn how your comment data is processed. Mary had a vast interest and a great understanding of geology, and was present in her husband’s conversations with Charles Darwin. Charles Lyell, another Scottish geologist, was a principal proponent of Hutton’s approach, emphasizing gradual change by means of known geologic processes. [17] It was a work of synthesis, backed by his own personal observations on his travels. He came from a prosperous family, worked briefly as a lawyer in the 1820s, and held the post of Professor of Geology at King's College London in the 1830s. These were essential to the development of his ideas, and provide a unique record of his travels, conversations, correspondence, reading and field observations. Late in his career, therefore, Lyell produced a condensed version titled Student's Elements of Geology that fulfilled the original purpose. [43], Quite strong remarks: no doubt Darwin resented Lyell's repeated suggestion that he owed a lot to Lamarck, whom he (Darwin) had always specifically rejected. Charles Lyell was born on the 14 of November Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. As Darwin wrote in On the Origin of Species, "He who can read Sir Charles Lyell's grand work on the Principles of Geology, which the future historian will recognise as having produced a revolution in natural science, yet does not admit how incomprehensibly vast have been the past periods of time, may at once close this volume. In 1821 he attended Robert Jameson's lectures in Edinburgh, and visited Gideon Mantell at Lewes, in Sussex. Oxford University Museum of Natural History Blog, Posted on 21 December 201611 September 2018. Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, FRS (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining Earth's history. As an author, friend and correspondent, Charles Lyell played a crucial role in shaping Darwin's scientific life. LYELL, SIR CHARLES (1797-1875), British geologist, was the eldest son of Charles Lyell of Kinnordy, Forfarshire, and was born on the 14th of November 1797, on the family estate in Scotland. Accessed from here on 20 December 2016. 65 of those Based on this the third volume of his Principles of Geology, published in 1833, proposed dividing the Tertiary period into four parts, which he named the Eocene, Miocene, Pliocene, and Recent. This is a small selection of the fascinating people who filled Charles Lyell’s life. Lyell's interpretation of geological change as the steady accumulation of minute changes over enormously long spans of time was a powerful influence on the young Charles Darwin. Lyell was a key figure in establishing the classification of more recent geological deposits, long known as the Tertiary period. So I thought it would be wonderful to find out about the family and friends of Charles Lyell. "[5] Lyell helped to arrange the simultaneous publication in 1858 of papers by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection, despite his personal religious qualms about the theory. In his own observations on rock and faunal successions, Lyell… [25] Lyell, in contrast focused on recent earthquakes (150 yrs), evidenced by surface irregularities such as faults, fissures, stratigraphic displacements and depressions.[25]. He was said to have great taste in literature and even published a translation of The Canzoniere of Dante. During periods of global warming, ice breaks off the poles and floats across submerged continents, carrying debris with it, he conjectured. Lyell noted the "economic advantages" that geological surveys could provide, citing their felicity in mineral-rich countries and provinces. The student was taught to despond from the first. [20], Lyell's geological interests ranged from volcanoes and geological dynamics through stratigraphy, palaeontology, and glaciology to topics that would now be classified as prehistoric archaeology and paleoanthropology. ( Log Out /  3, ch. Charles married Frances Lyell (born Smith) on month day 1796, at age 29. [7], Lyell initially accepted the conventional view of other men of science, that the fossil record indicated a directional geohistory in which species went extinct. [19] In geology Darwin was very much Lyell's disciple, and brought back observations and his own original theorising, including ideas about the formation of atolls, which supported Lyell's uniformitarianism. Sedgwick wrote worried letters to him about this. British geologist, the eldest son of Charles Lyell of Kinnordy, Forfarshire, and born on the 14th of November 1797, on the family estate in Scotland. She assisted him by sketching geological drawings, and cataloguing their collections. Lyell's father, also named Charles Lyell, was noted as a translator and scholar of Dante. His family's second country home was in a completely different geological and ecological area: he spent much of his childhood at Bartley Lodge in the New Forest, in Hampshire in southern England. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Captain Fitzroy of the HMS Beagle gave Darwin the first volume of Lyell’s Principles of Geology, a work that heavily influenced him. He countered Lamarck's views by rejecting continued cooling of the Earth in favour of "a fluctuating cycle", a long-term steady-state geohistory as proposed by James Hutton. The new couple spent their honeymoon in Switzerland and Italy on a geological tour of the area.[8]. Education: Schools at Ringwood, Salisbury and Midhurst. Building on the innovative work of James Hutton and his follower John Playfair, Lyell favoured an indefinitely long age for the Earth, despite evidence suggesting an old but finite age. This was in contrast to catastrophism, an idea of abrupt geological changes, which had been adapted in England to explain landscape features—such as rivers much smaller than their associated valleys—that seemed impossible to explain other than through violent action. He was the eldest of ten children. Lyell's views on gradual change and the power of a long time scale were important because Darwin thought that populations of an organism changed very slowly. As his eyesight began to deteriorate, he turned to geology as a full-time profession. Charles Lyell Birthdate: estimated between 1735 and 1795 Death: Immediate Family: Father of Sir Charles Lyell, 1st bart., FRS and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lyell … Lyell's wife died in 1873, and two years later (in 1875) Lyell himself died as he was revising the twelfth edition of Principles. Born to a wealthy gentry family in Scotland in 1797, Lyell had a classical and legal education but by the 1820s had become entranced by the popular and exciting subject of geology. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Lyell was one of the first to donate books to help found the Chicago Public Library. Lord Lyell was the son of Charles Lyell, 2nd Baron Lyell and Sophie Mary Trafford (1916–2012). Furthermore, Lyell believed that the accumulation of fine angular particles covering much of the world (today called loess) was a deposit settled from mountain flood water. He said in the second volume of Principles that the occurrence of this one fossil of the higher mammalia "in these ancient strata, is as fatal to the theory of successive development, as if several hundreds had been discovered. When Charles was only two years old, his parents relocated to Southampton, England near where his mother's family lived. About Sir Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) was one of the greatest public figures in science in an age of remarkable thinkers whose geological breakthroughs paved the way for the work of a whole new generation of scientists and philosophers, including Charles Darwin’s and his theories of human evolution. His father (1767-1849) was known both as a botanist and as the translator of the Vita Nuova and the Convito of Dante ; the plant Lyellia was named after him. . Lyell had private means, and earned further income as an author. [15][16] Lyell used each edition to incorporate additional material, rearrange existing material, and revisit old conclusions in light of new evidence. ( Log Out /  Lyell reconciled transmutation of species with natural theology by suggesting that it would be as much a "remarkable manifestation of creative Power" as creating each species separately. His father and grandfather, being admired and respected doctors, Charles grew up in a well-educated and freethinking family… Joseph Dalton Hooker. Charles Lyell’s father, also named Charles Lyell, gave up law as a profession after a considerable inheritance to concentrate on botany (the study of plants). "[29] Lyell inaccurately portrayed Lamarckism as a response to the fossil record, and said it was falsified by a lack of progress. While in South America Darwin received Volume 2 which considered the ideas of Lamarck in some detail. During his early childhood, the family moved to Lyndhurst, Hampshire, where he received his early education. In 1816, Charles went to Oxford University to study classics but also attended geology lectures by William Buckland. [7] His observational methods and general analytical framework remain in use today as foundational principles in geology. It is impossible to read their letters and not know they are friends. In 1866, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Elements of Geology began as the fourth volume of the third edition of Principles: Lyell intended the book to act as a suitable field guide for students of geology. Having attended Exeter College, Oxford ending in 1816, Lyell encountered geology as a serious profession under the wing of the naturalist William Buckland . Lyell explicitly rejected Lamarck's concept of transmutation of species, drawing on Cuvier's arguments, and concluded that species had been created with stable attributes. One of the contributions that Lyell made in Principles was to explain the cause of earthquakes. Charles Lyell, the eldest son of Charles Lyell, was born at Kinnordy, Forfar, the family estate, on Nov. 14, 1797. Species would regularly go extinct, in a "struggle for existence" between hybrids, or a "war one with another" due to population pressure. It’s that time of the year again, when we come together with friends and family to share in the festivities. Mary Horner was Charles Lyell’s wife. Around 1826, when he was on circuit, he read Lamarck's Zoological Philosophy and on 2 March 1827 wrote to Mantell, expressing admiration, but cautioning that he read it "rather as I hear an advocate on the wrong side, to know what can be made of the case in good hands". The work's subtitle was "An attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface by reference to causes now in operation", and this explains Lyell's impact on science. They had one son, who became Charles Lyell, 3rd Baron Lyell. His father (1767-1849) was known both as a botanist and as the translator of the Vita Nuova and the Convito of Dante; the plant Lyellia was named after him. In recent years Lyell's subdivisions have been widely discussed in relation to debates about the Anthropocene. Then, Lyell’s notebooks were saved from export in 2019, with over a thousand donations from individuals and institutions, including the John R. Murray Charitable Trust and the National Heritage Memorial Fund. If no match exists, you will be prompted to add a new person to the tree. Accessed from here on 20 December 2016. :[29], He struggled with the implications for human dignity, and later in 1827 wrote private notes on Lamarck's ideas. From 1830 onward his books provided both income and fame. Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man brought together Lyell's views on three key themes from the geology of the Quaternary Period of Earth history: glaciers, evolution, and the age of the human race. in the margin of his copy. Facts about Charles Lyell 7: the date and place of birth Lyell was born in Scotland on 14 November 1797. First published in 1863, it went through three editions that year, with a fourth and final edition appearing in 1873. He came from a prosperous family, worked briefly as a lawyer in the 1820s, and held the post of Professor of Geology at King's College London in the 1830s. ( Log Out /  [7][42] The Antiquity of Man (published in early February 1863, just before Huxley's Man's place in nature) drew these comments from Darwin to Huxley: "I am fearfully disappointed at Lyell's excessive caution" and "The book is a mere 'digest'". Enter your email address in the box below and click the button to receive our latest posts. [20], For other people named Charles Lyell, see, Presidents of the Geological Society of London, Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, "The Present is the Key to the Past is the Key to the Future", "Lyell and evolution: an account of Lyell's response to the prospect of an evolutionary ancestry for man", Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Lyell&oldid=1011377318, Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class), Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Lyell Fork, one of two large forks of the, This page was last edited on 10 March 2021, at 15:38. His studies focussed on mosses with several species of these plants being named after him. This inner struggle has been much commented on. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology (1830–33), which presented to a wide public audience the idea that Earth was shaped by the same natural processes still in operation today, operating at similar intensities. Lyell and Hooker were instrumental in arranging the peaceful co-publication of the theory of natural selection by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858: each had arrived at the theory independently. He encouraged Darwin to publish, and following the 1859 publication of On the Origin of Species, Lyell finally offered a tepid endorsement of evolution in the tenth edition of Principles. Charles Darwin, arguably one of the most well-known names in science, was a friend of Charles Lyell. Darwin's daughter Henrietta (Etty) wrote to her father: "Is it fair that Lyell always calls your theory a modification of Lamarck's?" Charles Lyell, 3rd Baron Lyell. All three went through multiple editions during his lifetime, although many of his friends (such as Darwin) thought the first edition of the Principles was the best written. [1] 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. In stratigraphy his division of the Tertiary period into the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene was highly influential. "[23] The two terms, uniformitarianism and catastrophism, were both coined by William Whewell;[24] in 1866 R. Grove suggested the simpler term continuity for Lyell's view, but the old terms persisted. Accessed from here on 20 December 2016. The second volume dismissed Lamarck's claims of animal forms arising from habits, continuous spontaneous generation of new life, and man having evolved from lower forms. He was vague about how replacement species formed, portraying this as an infrequent occurrence which could rarely be observed. However, as discussed below, many of his letters show he was fairly open to the idea of evolution. Lyell, a highly religious man with a strong belief in the special status of human reason, had great difficulty reconciling his beliefs with natural selection. Charles spent much of his childhood at the family’s other home, Bartley Lodge in the New Forest, England, where his interest in the natural world was sparked. They were partners in science, with Mary accompanying Charles on field trips. second class degree in classics, in December 1819, and gained his M.A. In addition to her spoken languages of French and German she learnt Spanish and Swedish to assist with communications. Charles Lyell was born in 1797 at Kinnordy House in Forfarshire (now Angus) into a wealthy family. In 1823 he was elected joint secretary of the Geological Society. Shirburn Castle, the seat of the Earl of Macclesfield, is surrounded by a moat, over which is a drawbridge; it contains a noble hall, an armoury, and a suite of splendid apartments, with a fine collection of painting… The philosopher William Whewell termed this gradualistic view "uniformitarianism" and contrasted it with catastrophism, which had been championed by Georges Cuvier and was better accepted in Europe. Lyell was born into a wealthy family, on 14 November 1797, at the family's estate house, Kinnordy House, near Kirriemuir in Forfarshire. Mary Horner was Charles Lyell’s wife. So I thought it would be wonderful to find out about the family and friends of Charles Lyell. Lyell and Darwin first met on 29th October 1836. Lyell's father, also named Charles Lyell, was noted as a translator and scholar of Dante. In Principles of Geology (first edition, vol. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. She, like him, was a conchologist and geologist, and she made major contributions to her husband’s work. In letters digitised by the University of Cambridge there are multiple correspondences between Darwin and Lyell. Childhood & Early Life He was born on November 17, 1797 to Charles Lyell, the son of a wealthy gentleman who inherited a large estate in Scotland. Before the work of Lyell, phenomena such as earthquakes were understood by the destruction that they brought. He incorrectly conjectured that icebergs may be the impetus behind the transport of glacial erratics, and that silty loess deposits might have settled out of flood waters. He completed a circuit through rural England, where he could observe geological phenomena. He continued to be a close personal friend, and Lyell was one of the first scientists to support On the Origin of Species, though he did not subscribe to all its contents. ( Log Out /  When the iceberg melts, it rains down sediments upon the land. Charles Lyell - Bio, Facts, Family Famous Birthday Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology is still known today as one of the most influential books concerning the science of Geology . Lyell asked Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, to search for erratic boulders on the survey voyage of the Beagle, and just before it set out FitzRoy gave Darwin Volume 1 of the first edition of Lyell's Principles. Principles of Geology, Lyell's first book, was also his most famous, most influential, and most important. Neurotree: academic genealogy for researcher Adding trainee for Charles Lyell Type a name and select match from the drop-down list. He was the eldest of ten children. Charles Darwin. Lyell's wife died in 1873, and two years later (in 1875) Lyell himself died as he was revising the twelfth edition of Principles. Lyell was born into a wealthy family, on 14 November 1797, at the family's estate house, Kinnordy House, near Kirriemuir in Forfarshire. Charles Lyell was born in 1767, to Charles Lyell and Mary Lyell (born Beale). He married Sophie Mary Trafford on 4 July 1938. Lyell's grandfather, also Charles Lyell, had made the family fortune supplying the Royal Navy at Montrose, enabling him to buy Kinnordy House. Throughout his life, Lyell kept a remarkable series of nearly three hundred manuscript notebooks and diaries. Lyell’s correspondence includes letters between Lyell family members from as early as 1806 (when Charles Lyell was only 9 years old), as well as over 640 letters received by Charles Lyell between 1829 and 1874. He corresponded frequently with Lyell, discussing geology and fossil finds. The eldest of 10 children, he attended several private schools throughout his early life. Joseph Dalton Hooker, friend of both Lyell and Darwin, was one of the finest 19th century British botanists and explorers. There were 10 kids in the family and he was the eldest one. His father (1767-1849) was known both as a botanist and as the translator of the Vita Nuova and the Convito of Dante: the plant Lyellia was named after him. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. [6] The systematic, factual description of geological formations of different ages contained in Principles grew so unwieldy, however, that Lyell split it off as the Elements in 1838. [8][9] He is buried in Westminster Abbey where there is a bust to him by William Theed in the north aisle. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Hooker about Lyell’s death, Darwin states they “have both lost as good & as true a friend as ever lived”. He was a founder of geographical botany (phytogeography), which looks at the geographic distribution of plant species and their influence on the earth’s surface. For a list of supporters see link below. […] Researching this led me to finding all about the Sowerby family as well as some of Lyell’s other friends and family. Although Darwin discussed evolutionary ideas with him from 1842, Lyell continued to reject evolution in each of the first nine editions of the Principles. Lyell was also a friend of Darwin's closest colleagues, Hooker and Huxley, but unlike them he struggled to square his religious beliefs with evolution. Lyell was born into a wealthy family, on 14 November 1797, at the family's estate house, Kinnordy House, near Kirriemuir in Forfarshire. Modern surveys, like the British Geological Survey (founded in 1835), and the US Geological Survey (founded in 1879), map and exhibit the natural resources within the country. They even spent their honeymoon in Switzerland and Italy on a geological tour of the area. I have always loved how some of Lyell’s fossils show predator/prey relationships and so […]. Family Background: Charles Lyell was the eldest of son of ten children of a Scottish botanist Father, Charles Lyell of Kinnordy and an English Mother. The Life of Charles Lyell When Charles Lyell Campbell was born on 25 February 1914, in Groom, Carson, Texas, United States, his father, Charles Leslie Campbell, was 27 and his mother, Bertha Myrtle Gravitt, was 24. [2], Lyell's scientific contributions included a pioneering explanation of climate change, in which shifting boundaries between oceans and continents could be used to explain long-term variations in temperature and rainfall. This is the time of year where you can appreciate all the amazing people in your life. [28] Today some of Lyell's mechanisms for geological processes have been disproven, though many have stood the test of time. In the little free time he had he pursued geology, which was a childhood passion. His creation of a separate period for human history, entitled the 'Recent', is widely cited as providing the foundations for the modern discussion of the Anthropocene.[3]. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features [7] By 1827, he had abandoned law and embarked on a geological career that would result in fame and the general acceptance of uniformitarianism, a working out of the ideas proposed by James Hutton a few decades earlier. He moved to his family’s estate in Kirriemuir, Angus before the war where he was a county councillor. Later he studied at the ‘Exeter College’, Oxford from 1816 to 1819, graduating BA second in classics. 1821. The book went through six editions, eventually growing to two volumes and ceasing to be the inexpensive, portable handbook that Lyell had originally envisioned. On the return of the Beagle (October 1836) Lyell invited Darwin to dinner and from then on they were close friends. Lyell rejected Lamarck's idea of organic evolution, proposing instead "Centres of Creation" to explain diversity and territory of species. During the 1840s, Lyell travelled to the United States and Canada, and wrote two popular travel-and-geology books: Travels in North America (1845) and A Second Visit to the United States (1849). An accomplished botanist, it was he who first exposed his son to the study of nature. Like his son he also corresponded with noted naturalists such as the botanist William Jackson Hooker (father of Joseph Dalton Hooker) and James Sowerby. Lyell saw himself as "the spiritual saviour of geology, freeing the science from the old dispensation of Moses. "[34] Darwin requests that Lyell send him news about himself and his wife, as well as asking Lyell for his wife’s opinions to discover what she would find least troublesome. licence to embattle his house here. She, like him, was a conchologist and geologist, and she made major contributions to her husband’s work. [27] The Recent epoch – renamed the Holocene by French paleontologist Paul Gervais in 1867 – included all deposits from the era subject to human observation. When the Beagle made its first stop ashore at St Jago in the Cape Verde islands, Darwin found rock formations which seen "through Lyell's eyes" gave him a revolutionary insight into the geological history of the island, an insight he applied throughout his travels. Round the house, in the strath, is good farmland, but within a short distance to the north-west, on the other side of the fault, are the Grampian Mountains in the Highlands. Lyell also gave influential explanations of earthquakes and developed the theory of gradual "backed up-building" of volcanoes. I left this rather to be inferred, not thinking it worth while to offend a certain class of persons by embodying in words what would only be a speculation. The central argument in Principles was that the present is the key to the past – a concept of the Scottish Enlightenment which David Hume had stated as "all inferences from experience suppose ... that the future will resemble the past", and James Hutton had described when he wrote in 1788 that "from what has actually been, we have data for concluding with regard to that which is to happen thereafter.