Bøger af Archibald Geikie

Influential geologist, historian and President of the Royal Society, Sir Archibald Geikie published numerous technical and popular science books, as well as biographical works including Founders of Geology (1897). This autobiography, published in 1924, provides a personal and highly readable account of his remarkably successful career.

Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871) was an influential Scottish geologist best known for his classification of the Silurian system of rock strata. These volumes, first published in 1875, contain a detailed biography, providing a fascinating insight into his life and work. Volume 1 describes his life until 1842.

Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay (1814-91) was a British geologist with a particular interest in the effects of glaciation on the landscape. He travelled in Europe and America, and was a keen climber. His first work, Geology of the Island of Arran (1840), also published in this series, attracted the attention of Roderick Murchison, who found him employment with the Geological Survey, and Ramsay later succeeded Murchison as its director. He carried out important fieldwork in Wales, taught at University College London and the Royal School of Mines, and published a successful textbook. Another major contribution was his work on the origin of lakes: his controversial 1862 proposal that glaciers could hollow out lake basins even in the absence of earth movements was eventually accepted. Ramsay's younger colleague at the Geological Survey, Sir Archibald Geikie (1835-1924), who also wrote a biography of Murchison, published this memoir in 1895.

During his famous Beagle voyage, Darwin collected rocks, fossils and other geological specimens. No previous geologist had amassed such a detailed set of data. He identified raised beaches and remains of marine organisms high above the sea, understanding their significance as evidence of the uprising of landmasses. He also witnessed an earthquake and volcanic eruptions, concluding that both are related to movements of molten rock deep in the Earth. In this 1909 lecture, Sir Archibald Geikie, then President of the Royal Society, outlines Darwin's geological findings and explains how these underpinned his developing ideas. We learn of Darwin's theory of coral reef formation, and his fascination with the activities of earthworms. Finally the lecture considers the importance of Darwin's geological studies in formulating his theory of evolution by natural selection, leading to his masterpiece On the Origin of Species.