Adam Sedgwick

Adam Sedgwick ( born March 22, 1785 Dent, Yorkshire, † January 27, 1873 in Cambridge ) was one of the founders of modern geology. He hit both the Devonian and the Cambrian period before as ingredients for the geological time scale. The latter proposal was based on the stratigraphic research he had done in Wales.

Life and work

Sedgwick was the third child of an Anglican vicar to the world. He was educated at Sedbergh School and at Trinity College, Cambridge.

In 1810 he was assistant there, 1818 as a successor of John Woodward's Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge. In the same year he was ordained a priest of the Anglican Church. At Cambridge, he worked on reforms that would make the university into a modern educational and research institution. In 1829 he became President of the Geological Society in London. In 1834 he was canon ( Prebendary ) of Norwich Cathedral; he took this function in addition to his university posts, true to his death. In 1835 he published together with Sir Roderick Murchison 's work On the Silurian and Cambrian Systems, Exhibiting the Order in Which the Older Sedimentary Strata Succeed each other in England and Wales ( German: On the Silurian and Cambrian periods The arrangement in which the older ones. sediment layers in England and Wales consecutive ). In 1845 he was Vice-Rector of Trinity College.

Sedgwick and Darwin

With Charles Darwin, who had been one of his geology students in the subject, he continued throughout his journey aboard the HMS Beagle in the correspondence. However, it could never convince Darwin of his theory of evolution. Sedgwick even wrote to Darwin:

Despite these fundamental differences, the two remained until her death good friends.

Works (selection)

• A discourse on the studies of the University of Cambridge. 5th edition 1850; online