LYELL, SIR CHARLES, BARONET

born Nov. 14, 1797, Kinnordy, Forfarshire, Scot. died Feb. 22, 1875, London Scottish geologist largely responsible for the general acceptance of the view that all features of the Earth's surface are produced by physical, chemical, and biological processes through long periods of geological time. The concept was called uniformitarianism (initially set forth by James Hutton). Lyell's achievements laid the foundations for evolutionary biology as well as for an understanding of the Earth's development. He was knighted in 1848 and made a baronet in 1864. Additional reading Katherine M. Lyell (ed.), Life, Letters, and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., 2 vol. (1881), is the best source of Lyell's own observations. Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface by Reference to Causes Now in Operation, 3 vol. (183033, reprinted 1969), and Principles of Geology, or The Modern Changes of the Earth and Its Inhabitants, 11th ed., 2 vol. (1872), are the two best editions to consult and compare. T.G. Bonney, Charles Lyell and Modern Geology (1895), is a perceptive 19th-century view. See also M.J.S. Rudwick, Lyell on Etna, and the Antiquity of the Earth, in C.J. Schneer (ed.), Toward a History of Geology (1969); and Sir Charles Lyell's Scientific Journals on the Species Question (1970), written by the leading student of Lyell's life and work, L.G. Wilson, who also provided the definitive biography Charles Lyell. The Years to 1841: The Revolution in Geology (1972).