Sir Charles Lyell

Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875) was a Scottish geologist whose work established the modern understanding of the earth's history. Trained as a lawyer, he turned to geology and traveled widely in Europe and North America. His Principles of Geology (1830 to 1833) argued that the earth had been shaped by the same slow processes still at work, acting over immense time. Charles Darwin read it on the voyage of the Beagle and became his close friend, and Lyell urged him to publish his theory of natural selection. Lyell also wrote Elements of Geology and The Antiquity of Man. He was made a baronet and is buried in Westminster Abbey.