Roderick Murchison
MRIA | |
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Born | Tarradale House, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, Scotland | 19 February 1792
Died | 22 October 1871 London, England | (aged 79)
Nationality | Scottish |
Known for | Silurian system Devonian system Permian system |
Spouse | |
Awards | Founder's Medal (1871) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Geology |
Signature | |
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet,
Early life and work
Murchison was born at
After eight years of service Murchison left the army and married Charlotte Hugonin (1788–1869), the only daughter of General Hugonin of Nursted House, Hampshire. Murchison and his wife spent two years in mainland Europe, particularly in Italy. They then settled in Barnard Castle, County Durham, England, in 1818, where Murchison made the acquaintance of Sir Humphry Davy. Davy urged Murchison to turn his energy to science, after hearing that he wasted his time riding to hounds and shooting. With encouragement from his wife Charlotte,[4] Murchison became fascinated by the young science of geology and joined the Geological Society of London, soon becoming one of its most active members. His colleagues there included Adam Sedgwick, William Conybeare, William Buckland, William Fitton, Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin.
Exploring with his wife, Murchison studied the geology of the south of England, devoting special attention to the rocks of the north-west of
Murchison was an opponent of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He opposed the transmutation of species and supported successive creation.[5][6]
Silurian system
In 1831 he went to the England–Wales border, to attempt to discover whether the greywacke rocks underlying the Old Red Sandstone could be grouped into a definite order of succession. The result was the establishment of the Silurian system under which were grouped, for the first time, a remarkable series of formations, each replete with distinctive organic remains other than and very different from those of the other rocks of England. These researches, together with descriptions of the coalfields and overlying formations in South Wales and the English border counties, were embodied in The Silurian System (1839). The English naturalist, geologist, and palaeontologist John William Salter assisted Murchison in his work on Siluria (1854 and later editions).[7]
The establishment of the Silurian system was followed by that of the Devonian system, an investigation in which Murchison assisted, both in the south-west of England and in the Rhineland. Soon afterwards Murchison projected an important geological campaign in Russia with the view of extending to that part of the Continent the classification he had succeeded in elaborating for the older rocks of western Europe. He was accompanied by Édouard de Verneuil (1805–1873) and Count Alexander von Keyserling (1815–1891), in conjunction with whom he produced a work on Russia and the Ural Mountains. The publication of this monograph in 1845 completes the first and most active half of Murchison's scientific career. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1840.[8]
In 1846 he was knighted, and in the same year he presided over the meeting of the British Association at Southampton. During the later years of his life, a large part of his time was devoted to the affairs of the Royal Geographical Society, of which he was in 1830 one of the founders,[9] and he was president 1843–1845, 1851–1853, 1856–1859 and 1862–1871. He served on the Royal Commission on the British Museum (1847–1849).[10]
Murchison also announced the Permian system to geology in 1841, based on explorations in Perm Krai undertaken with Édouard de Verneuil.[11][12]
Murchison was responsible for establishing much of the international prestige of British geology, and he viewed the spread of his stratigraphic systems on maps around the world "as a scientific form of imperial expansion". He frequently described geological excursions (such those he made abroad) as "invasions" or "conquests" and enjoyed being dubbed the "King of Siluria". According to the scholar Robert A. Stafford, "Murchinson's tendencies towards militarism, imperialism, and megalomania ran through his career and finally found full expression his simultaneous leadership of the Royal Geographical Society and the British Geological Survey."[13]
Scotland
The chief geological investigation of the last decade of his life was devoted to the
In 1855 Murchison was appointed director-general of the
Later life
In 1845, whilst visiting
In 1863 he was made a
One of the closing public acts of Murchison's life was the founding of a chair of geology and mineralogy at the University of Edinburgh. Under his will there was established the Murchison Medal and a geological fund (The Murchison Fund) to be awarded annually by the council of the Geological Society in London.
Murchison died in 1871 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London, near the north end of the arcade on the west side of the central path.
Legacy
The crater Murchison on the Moon and at least fifteen geographical locations on Earth are named after him.
These include: the Murchison Range, part of the Stauning Alps, and the Murchison Sound in Greenland;[18] Mount Murchison in Banff National Park, Canada; Mount Murchison in the Mountaineer Range, Antarctica; Mount Murchison, just west of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada; tiny Murchison Island in Haida Gwaii in the same province; the Murchison Falls in Uganda; the Murchison River in Western Australia.[19] Murchison has two other rivers named after him in Western Australia: the Roderick River and the Impey River, both tributaries of the Murchison. The town of Murchison in the Tasman Region of New Zealand's South Island was also named after him. Murchison Road is one of the streets in east London, and there is a Murchison Avenue in Old Bexley, southeast London. Scarborough in North Yorkshire has a Murchison Street.
Murchison's View is named after him. The viewpoint within the Wren's Nest area of Dudley gives a panoramic view over much of Birmingham and the Black Country. Murchinson's visits to the limestone hills of Dudley helped him to develop his understanding of the Silurian System. When he returned to the area in 1849 he was greeted by 15,000 locals who declared him the King of Siluria.
Memorials
A memorial tablet was installed on 3 November 2005 in front of School #9 in Perm in Russia.[20] It consists of a stone base, irregular in form, about two metres long, and bearing a dark stone plate with the following inscription (in Russian):
To Roderick Impey Murchison, Scottish geologist, explorer of Perm Krai, who gave to the last period of the Paleozoic era the name of Permian.
The decision to perpetuate the explorer's name was accepted by the school administration and pupils in connection with a discussion to establish in Perm a pillar or an arch devoted to Roderick Murchison.
In 2009, the Ural-Scottish Society erected a memorial to Murchison on the banks of the
A fictionalised version of Murchison appears in the 2020 film Ammonite. He is played by James McArdle.
Bibliography
- Outline of the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Cheltenham. H. Davies. 1834.
- The Silurian System. London: John Murray. 1839.
- On the Geological Structure of the Central and Southern Regions of Russia in Europe, and of the Ural Mountains. Print. by R. and J.E. Taylor. 1842.
- Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains. Vol. 1: Parts 1 & 2 – Geology. 1845. with Edouard de Verneuil and Count Alexander Keyserling
- Géologie de la Russie d'Europe et des montagnes de l'Oural [Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains] (in French). Vol. 2: Part 3 – Palaeontology. Paris: P. Bertrand. 1845.
References
Notes
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19555. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Geikie 1911, pp. 31–32.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19555.required.)
In 1799 Roderick was placed at the grammar school, Durham, where he led in mischief more often than in his class.
(Subscription or UK public library membership - ISSN 0736-623X.
- ^ Geikie 1875, pp. 321–322.
- ^ Branch 2016.
- ^ MURCHISON, R. I. 1854. Siluria. The History of the Oldest known Rocks containing Organic Remains, with a Brief Sketch of the Distribution of Gold over Earth. John Murray, London, 523 pp.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter M" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- ^ Markham, Sir Clements Robert (1881). The Fifty Years' Work of the Royal Geographical Society. J. Murray. p. 23.
- ^ Fagan 1880, p. 257.
- ^ Benton, M.J. et al., Murchison’s first sighting of the Permian, at Vyazniki in 1841 Archived 2012-03-24 at WebCite, Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, accessed 2012-02-21
- ^ Murchison, Roderick Impey (1841) "First sketch of some of the principal results of a second geological survey of Russia," Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, series 3, 19 : 417–422. From p. 419: "The carboniferous system is surmounted, to the east of the Volga, by a vast series of marls, schists, limestones, sandstones and conglomerates, to which I propose to give the name of "Permian System," … ."
- .
- ^ Bonython, John Langdon (1933–34), "Address of the President", Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, vol. XXIV, Parts 1 and 2, p. 5
- ^ "Members Directory". American Antiquarian Society.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ "List of Past Gold Medal Winners" (PDF). Royal Geographical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ^ "Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland" (PDF). Geological Survey of Denmark. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
- ^ "BCGNIS listing "Mount Murchison"". Archived from the original on 15 August 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
- ^ Chernov, Nikita (21 October 2015). "Школьники установили памятный знак геологу, открывшему Пермский период Палеозоя" [School pupils established a memorial to the geologist who discovered the Permian period of Paleozoic Era] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
- ^ "A memorial to Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, the Scottish geologist who established the Permian archaeological period of the Mesozoic Era, has been unveiled on the bank of the Chusovaya River in the Ural Mountains". The Daily Telegraph. 24 February 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Murch.
Sources
- Fagan, Louis (1880). The Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K. C. B.: Late Principal Librarian of the British Museum, Senator of Italy, &c., &c. Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton.
- Branch, Glenn (2016). "Misquoting Murchison". National Center for Science Education.
- Geikie, Archibald (1875). Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison: Based on His Journals and Letters. Vol. 2. London: John Murray.
- Geikie, Archibald (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 31–32.
Further reading
- Geikie, Archibald (1875). Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison. Vol. I. London: John Murray. Retrieved 26 February 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- Geikie, Archibald (1875). Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison. Vol. II. London: John Murray. Retrieved 26 February 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- Hestmark, Geir (2008). "A primitive country of rocks and people" – Roderick I Murchison's Silurian Campaign in Norway 1844". Norwegian Journal of Geology. 88: 117–141.
- Morton, John L. (2004). King of Siluria — How Roderick Murchison Changed the Face of Geology. Brocken Spectre. ISBN 0-9546829-0-4.
- ISBN 9780226731018. — the rise of Murchison to power
- Secord, James A. (1986). Controversy in Victorian Geology: The Cambrian-Silurian Dispute. Princeton University Press. — documents the battle between Murchison and Adam Sedgwick
- Collie, M.; Diener, J., eds. (2004), Murchison's Wanderings in Russia: His Geological Exploration of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains, 1840–1841, British Geological Survey Occasional Publication No. 2., Buckinghamshire: Halstan & Co., p. 474
- Murchison, Arthur (2014). War Before Science: Sir Robert Impey Murchison's Youth, Army Service and Military Associates During the Napoleonic Wars. Academica Press. ISBN 978-1-936320-74-5.
- Stafford, Robert A. (1989). Scientist of Empire: Sir Roderick Murchison, Scientific Exploration and Victorian Imperialism. Cambridge University Press. - documents Murchison's role in promoting the symbiotic relationship between the natural sciences and British imperialism
- "Sir Roderick Murchison (Obituary Notice, Monday, October 23, 1871)". Eminent Persons: Biographies reprinted from The Times. Vol. I (1870–1875). London: Macmillan and Co. 1892. pp. 63–75. .