William Smith (geologist)

William Smith [ wɪlɪəm smɪθ ] ( born March 23, 1769 in Churchill, Oxfordshire, † August 28 1839 in Northampton ) created the first geological map of the UK and is considered the founder of the British geology. In 1831 he received the Wollaston Medal, awarded for the first time.

As an engineer, Smith noticed the construction of a channel that some fossils were only found in certain layers. With this realization, he and other geologists far apart outcropping strata could be correlated due to similar characteristics, ie they assign the same stratigraphic level on the geological time table. This led to his nickname Strata Smith ( " Smith - layers ").

Based on this, could Leopold von Buch and the other Leitfossilprinzip formulate. His greatest work was the geological mapping of Great Britain, published in 1815. Early as 1799 he published a map of the area of Bath.

The new central office building of the British Geological Survey in Keyworth has been called by his name in 2009.