Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875

Sir Charles Lyell, first baronet, (1797-1875, APS, 1842) was a geologist and lawyer, whose Principles of Geology explained “former changes of the earth’s surface” by means of “modern causes.” Critical of the “catastrophist” views of many contemporary geologists, Lyell considered the earth “a system of balanced antagonistic processes,” a theory later described as uniformitarian. Although he rejected Jean Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of species mutability early in his career, later he favorably reviewed the arguments of Charles Darwin for natural selection as the evolutionary mechanism behind the emergence of new species.

The eldest son of Charles Lyell and Frances Smith, Lyell developed a passion for natural history as a boy in New Forest, Forfarshire in Scotland. He was educated in private schools in Midhurst, Sussex county England and entered Exeter College, Oxford in 1816, where he attended William Buckland’s lectures on mineralogy and geology for three years. Lyell graduated B.A. in 1819 with a second class in classical honors. He received an M.A. in 1821, before entering Lincoln’s Inn to prepare for a legal career. Nevertheless, Lyell aimed to become a man of science, and to this end Buckland recommended him for membership in the Geological Society, which he joined together with the Linnean society.

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