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 Much of the research is based on primary sources, including previously unpublished manuscripts, donated in part by members of the family to the Haslemere Educational Museum, UK.
Archibald Geikie and the Elgin reptiles
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Published:January 01, 2019
Abstract
Archibald Geikie had some involvement in Victorian controversies over the age and interpretation of the Permian–Triassic Elgin reptiles. His early patronage by Roderick Murchison, and his biography of Murchison, gave him an unusual position, both in praising his older mentor and also in dealing with some of the mistakes he made. Murchison long held to the notion that the yellow sandstones at Elgin were all Devonian in age, even as more and more specimens of Mesozoic-style reptiles emerged. He eventually accepted that the palaeontological evidence trumped his beloved field observations, and it is likely Geikie never doubted the true age. Later, Geikie was honoured when a dicynodont from Elgin, Geikia, was named after him by Geological Survey staff palaeontologist E.T. Newton (1840–1930). The circumstances surrounding this choice of name remain uncertain.
- biography
- Chordata
- clastic rocks
- Devonian
- Europe
- fossils
- Great Britain
- Lower Triassic
- Mesozoic
- paleontology
- Paleozoic
- Permian
- Permian-Triassic boundary
- Reptilia
- sandstone
- Scotland
- sedimentary rocks
- stratigraphic boundary
- Tetrapoda
- Triassic
- United Kingdom
- Upper Permian
- Vertebrata
- Western Europe
- Geikie, Archibald
- Murchison, Roderick
- Geikia elginensis
- Elgin Scotland
- Morayshire Scotland
- Geikia