Who was Sir Charles Lyell?
Q: Who was Sir Charles Lyell?
A: Sir Charles Lyell was a British geologist who was the foremost geologist of his day and an influence on the young Charles Darwin. He was rewarded with a knighthood, and later he was created a hereditary baronet.
Q: Where did Sir Charles Lyell grow up?
A: Sir Charles Lyell grew up in the Scottish Lowlands in the valley of the Highland Boundary Fault, one of the great features of Scottish geology. His family also had a second home at Bartley Lodge in the New Forest, England.
Q: What did Lyell do for work?
A: Lyell worked briefly as a lawyer in the 1820s and held was a Professor of Geology at King's College London in the 1830s. From 1830 onward his books gave him both income and fame.
Q: What is one of his most famous works?
A: One of his most famous works is Principles of Geology which he published in three volumes from 1830-33. It was about James Hutton's ideas but with many additions, improvements and examples by Lyell himself.
Q: What is uniformitarianism?
A: Uniformitarianism is an idea proposed by William Whewell that geological remains from distant past are explained by processes we can see operating now; essentially that present is key to understanding past events. This idea originated from Lyell's Principles of Geology book which argued for steady accumulation of minute changes over long periods time rather than catastrophic events causing large scale change quickly.
Q: How did this idea influence Darwin?
A: This idea influenced Darwin greatly as it provided evidence for gradual change over long spans rather than sudden changes due to catastrophes or divine intervention; this allowed him to develop his theory on evolution through natural selection more easily as it provided evidence for slow changes over time leading to new species being formed gradually rather than suddenly due to external forces or interventions
