James Hutton. Through observation and carefully reasoned geological arguments, Hutton came to believe that the Earth was perpetually being formed; he recognized that the history of the Earth could be determined by understanding how processes such as erosion and sedimentation work in the present day.
His theories of geology and geologic time,[4] also called deep time,[5] came to be included in theories which were called plutonism and uniformitarianism. Some of his writings anticipated the Gaia hypothesis. Early life and career[edit] After his degree Hutton returned to London, then in mid-1750 went back to Edinburgh and resumed chemical experiments with close friend, James Davie. Their work on production of sal ammoniac from soot led to their partnership in a profitable chemical works,[8] manufacturing the crystalline salt which was used for dyeing, metalworking and as smelling salts and previously was available only from natural sources and had to be imported from Egypt.
Farming and geology[edit] James Hutton biography - Science Hall of Fame. Famous for: Establishing geology as a true science Formulating his controversial 'Theory of the Earth' Developing a theory of rain Being the first person to think of the Earth as millions of years old.
Farmer and naturalist James Hutton is credited with being the founder of modern geology. The first to determine that the Earth is millions of years old, Hutton believed our planet is continually being formed. Early years James Hutton was born in Edinburgh in 1726. In 1750 he returned to Edinburgh and resumed chemical experiments with friend James Davie. The science of geology Hutton moved to Slighhouses, a lowland family farm, in the 1750s. In 1753 Hutton became interested in studying the surface of the earth. Hutton went on a geological tour of the north of Scotland with George Maxwell-Clerk in 1764. Rocks and fossils Travels in Britain and abroad, as well as a time farming in Berwickshire, gave Hutton the opportunity to observe different rocks.
Clash with the Church Later years Back to top. James Hutton - Scottish Enlightenment. Find us on Privacy and cookies Scotlands History\|Scottish Enlightenment James Hutton James Hutton, geologist (1726 - 1797) Content Play Controls Transcript Download Related Links How Scottish geologist James Hutton discovered Deep Time, shattering Biblical claims about the age of the earth, is explained in this video by an actor portraying the 18th century scientist.
Edinburgh and West Lothian - Hutton's Unconformity. Siccar Point is a place of pilgrimage for geologists worldwide – here in 1788 James Hutton made one of the fundamental advances in geological understanding.
At that time geologists like Hutton were aware of the harder, folded rocks (which they called ‘schistus’) that formed the Lammermuirs and the cliffs of Berwickshire; they were also aware of the flatter lying sedimentary strata that formed the East Lothian coastal plain – but “where was the join?” They asked. Looking for an answer James Hutton with friends set sail from Dunglass and sailed east, studying the sea cliffs. James Hutton: The Founder of Modern Geology. A portrait of James Hutton (17261797) by Sir Henry Raeborn.
Portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn, courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. View of Siccar Point, Scotland. Photo by Craig Chesek, © American Museum of Natural History. Dacite columns that formed tens of thousands of years ago when a lava flow cooled rapidly against a glacier. Photo by Jackie Beckett, © American Museum of Natural History. James Hutton (1726–1797), a Scottish farmer and naturalist, is known as the founder of modern geology. In the late eighteenth century, when Hutton was carefully examining the rocks, it was generally believed that Earth had come into creation only around six thousand years earlier (on October 22, 4004 B.C., to be precise, according to the seventeenth century scholarly analysis of the Bible by Archbishop James Ussher of Ireland), and that fossils were the remains of animals that had perished during the Biblical flood.
Hutton came to his chosen field by quite a roundabout route. James Hutton. Hutton, James 1726-1797. James Hutton Theory of the Earth portrait. James Hutton Greyfriars Edinburgh grave burial portrait Keith Montgomery uwmc. James Hutton, famous people from Edinburgh.