Aspects of the Life and Works of Archibald Geikie
Sir Archibald Geikie (1835–1924) was one of the most distinguished and influential geologists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was Director-General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, President of the Geological Society of London, President of the British Association, Trustee of the British Museum and President of the Royal Society. He was also an accomplished writer, a masterful lecturer and a talented artist who published over 200 scientific papers, books and articles.
The papers in this volume examine aspects of Geikie’s life and works, including his family history, his personal and professional relationships, his art, and his contributions as a field geologist and administrator. Together, they provide a deeper understanding of his life, his career and his contribution to the development of Geology as a scientific discipline. Much of the research is based on primary sources, including previously unpublished manuscripts, donated in part by members of the family to the Haslemere Educational Museum, UK.
The Highland Controversy revisited: Geikie’s compounded blunder
-
Published:January 01, 2019
Extract
Sir Archibald Geikie (1835–1924) was a formidable and authoritarian figure who played a central part in British geology in Victorian and Edwardian times. He was a protégé of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison and became Professor of Geology at the University of Edinburgh (1871), Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland (1871) and Director-General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain (1882), a position that he held with stern, but kindly, attention to his staff until his retirement to Haslemere in 1901. He was a prolific writer of both biographies of his mentors and a huge number of books and papers on a wide variety of geological topics. His rather long-winded and self-congratulatory autobiography (Geikie 1924) was published in the year of his death. His principal hobby was as a proficient sketcher and water colourist, mostly of scenes of geological interest, many of which adorn and illustrate his published works. Geikie had a powerful influence on Victorian and Edwardian geology and was rewarded by many honours, including Fellow of the Royal Society (1864), a knighthood (1891) and the Order of Merit (1914).