Geology

Sir Charles Lyell

Sir Charles Lyell, author of three books, served as Professor of Geology at King's College London in the 1830s. Each title went through multiple editions during his lifetime, with each successive version incorporating new and reorganizing existing material. Lyell also reexamined his original conclusions in light of new evidence. His first book, Principles of Geology, was his most influential and important.

First published in 1830-33, Principles established Lyell as a geological theorist and introduced the doctrine of uniformitarianism, changing the worldview of the origins of the Earth. As Lyell explains, ancient geological features can be explained by observation of present-day geological phenomena. It has been suggested that Darwin's Origin of Species in large part took Lyell's theories of geological development and applied them to the biological sciences. Lyell's interpretation of geologic change as the steady accumulation of minute changes over enormously long spans of time was also a central theme in the Principles, and a powerful influence on Charles Darwin, who received the first volume of the first edition before sailing on the HMS Beagle in 1831. Darwin visited rock formations at St. Jago, which when coupled with Lyell's teachings, provided insight into the geological history of the island. While in South America, Darwin received the second volume of the Principles, which rejected the idea of organic evolution, using another mechanism to explain diversity and territory of species. Darwin's theories advanced further, but he never abandoned Lyell's teachings. He collected evidence in support of uniformitarianism, including his theories about the formation of atolls. Lyell ultimately acknowledged Darwin's theories of evolution in the tenth edition of the Principles.