Walk with the Founding Fathers
-
Published:January 01, 2009
Abstract
Part of the History of Geology Group’s Bicentenary celebrations included a field trip to the Isle of Wight entitled ‘Walk with the Founding Fathers’. It followed in the footsteps of Thomas Webster as he attempted to understand the island’s complex geology almost 200 years ago. The material used for the field trip – prepared by Martin Rudwick – is reprinted here. The logistics of the weekend were organized by History of Geology Group committee members, John Mather and Dick Moody, and the trip was led by Professors Martin Rudwick and Hugh Torrens.
Figures & Tables
Contents
The Making of the Geological Society of London

Founded in 1807, the Geological Society of London became the world’s first learned society devoted to the Earth sciences. In celebration of the Society’s 200-year history, this book commemorates the lives of the Society’s 13 founders and sets geology in its national and European context at the turn of the nineteenth century. In Britain, geology was emerging as a subject in its own right from three closely related disciplines — chemistry, mineralogy and medicine — disciplines that reflect the principal professions and interests of the founders. The tremendous energy and cooperation of these 13 men, about whom little was previously known, quickly mobilized like-minded men around the country and fuelled the nation’s passion for geology; an enthusiasm that soon spread to America and Australia. Two previously unpublished works from this period, essential to understanding the founding of the Society, are reproduced here for the first time. The book closes with a review of the Society’s 2007 Bicentenary celebrations.