Sir archibald geikie biography of barack

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Sir Archibald Geikie lived from 28 December 1835 to 10 November 1924. He was an eminent geologist who did much to place the geology of Scotland, literally, on the map. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

Archibald Geikie was the older brother of James Geikie, also a noted geologist. He was born in Edinburgh and educated at the Royal High School before commencing his studies at Edinburgh University. At the age of 20 in 1855 he took up a post as an assistant on the British Geological Survey. He rapidly established himself both as a very capable geologist and as a very effective writer about geology. In 1858 he published the first of a long line of books on the subject, The Story of a Boulder; or, Gleanings from the Note-Book of a Geologist. This brought him to the attention of the leading geologist of the day, Sir Roderick Murchison, whose biographer he later became.

Geikie subsequently worked with Murchison to unravel the complex geology of northern Scotland, and the two jointly published a small geological map of the country in 1862, the first ever produced. Over the following 30 years Geikie's work allowed a much more detailed understanding, which resulted in the publication of a larger and more definitive geological map of Scotland in 1892. In 1863, Geikie's paper On the Phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland set out the first accurate account of the shaping of Scotland by glacial action during the ice ages. It was the publication in 1865 of his Scenery of Scotland which really brought him to public attention. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the same year.

In 1867, Geikie became director of the British Geological Survey in Scotland, and in 1871 he also was appointed to the Murchison professorship of geology and mineralogy at the Uni

Scottish geologist and writer

Sir Archibald GeikieOM KCB FRS FRSE (28 December 1835 – 10 November 1924) was a Scottish geologist and writer.

Early life

Geikie was born in Edinburgh in 1835, the eldest son of Isabella Thom and her husband James Stuart Geikie, a musician and music critic. The elder brother of James Geikie, he was educated at Edinburgh High School and University of Edinburgh.

Career

In 1855 Geikie was appointed an assistant with the British Geological Survey. Among his early publications for a popular audience was The Story of a Boulder; or, Gleanings from the Note-Book of a Geologist (1858). His ability at once attracted the notice of his chief, Sir Roderick Murchison, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship, and whose biographer he subsequently became.

Geikie completed some early geological mapping with Murchison on complicated regions of schists in the Scottish Highlands; and they jointly published a new geological map of Scotland in 1862. Geikie completed a larger map in 1892. In 1863 he published an important essay "On the Phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland", in Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, in which the effects of ice action in that country were for the first time clearly and connectedly delineated.

In 1865 Geikie's Scenery of Scotland (3rd edition, 1901) was published, which was, he claimed, the first attempt to elucidate in some detail the history of the topography of a country. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. At this time the Edinburgh school of geologists, prominent among them Sir Andrew Ramsay, with his Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain were maintaining the supreme importance of denudation in the configuration of land surfaces, and particularly the erosion of valleys by the action of running water. Geikie's book, based o

Murchison Professor of Geology, 1870-1881

Occupation, Sphere of Activity

Sir Archibald Geikie was born at Edinburgh in 1835, the son of John Stuart Geikie, businessman, and composer, and Isabella Thom. He married Alice Gabrielle Pignatel in 1871. His education was at Black's school, then Edinburgh High School and he showed a great aptitude for study and his interest in science was furthered in the direction of geology when he and his friends discovered fossils at Burdiehouse quarries. Geikie was influenced by scientists such as naturalist John Fleming, to whom he was introduced by his father, and by the many books on geolgy which he consumed, most notably Hugh Miller's Old Red Sandstone.

Geikie's professional life began initially in banking, which he did not enjoy and 1851 saw his a newspaper publication of his Three Weeks in Arran by a Young Geologist, which led to an introduction to Hugh Miller. He also became acquainted with publisher Alexander Macmillan, geologist James David Forbes and Andrew Crombie Ramsay.

The banking career abandoned, he matriculated at the University of Edinburgh in 1854 but had to leave the following year for financial reasons. A recommendation by both Miller and Ramsay to Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, newly appointed head of the Geological Survey, secured Geikie a position there as mapping assistant. The following years saw him make the acquaintance of distinguished scientists such as Leonard Horner and Sir Charles Lyell.

His official work was supplemented by research during his holiday time, travelling throughout the British Isles and Europe. 1867 saw him appointed director of the newly created branch, the Scottish Geological Survey. When Murchison founded the chair of geology in 1870 at the University of Edinburgh, Geikie was his choice as professor and he was appointed the following year.

Geikie's field and research work took him all over the