Charles Lyell
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Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles Da
Portrait of Lyell by George J. Stodart
Charles Lyell at the British Association meeting in Glasgow 1840. Painting by Alexander Craig.
A page from one of Lyell's notebooks, held in the University of Edinburgh's Heritage Collections
The frontispiece from Elements of Geology
Uniformitarianism
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Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific obser
Charles Lyell
…the same natural processes still in operation today, operating at similar intensities. The philosopher William Whewell dubbed this gradualistic view "uniformitarianism" and contrasted it with catastrophism, which had been championed by Georges Cuvier and was better accepted in Europe. The combination of evidence and…
Hutton's Unconformity at Jedburgh. Above: John Clerk of Eldin's 1787 illustration. Below: 2003 photograph.
Cliff at the east of Siccar Point in Berwickshire, showing the gently tilting red sandstone layers above vertically tilted greywacke rocks