Results for Henry De la Beche
On this page:
 
Scientist:

Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche

British geologist (1796–1855)

De la Beche entered the army but at the end of the Napoleonic Wars he chose to devote himself to geology instead. After traveling extensively in Europe and Jamaica on his own research work, he became, in 1835, director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, which had been recently formed largely on his initiative. He was also instrumental in setting up the Royal School of Mines in 1851, of which he was the first principal.

He wrote extensively on the geology of southwest England and Jamaica, publishing the first account of the geology of Jamaica in 1827 and his report on the geology of Devon during the period 1832–35.

In 1834, while working in Devon, he made his most significant discovery. He observed that some rock strata contained fossil plants similar to those of the Carboniferous system, discovered by William Conybeare in 1822, but did not contain any of the fossils of the preceding Silurian system, recently discovered by Roderick Murchison. The Silurian was believed to merge directly into the Carboniferous and De la Beche assumed the strata he had discovered came before the Silurian. However, William Lonsdale, librarian of the Geological Society, convincingly argued for a system, later named the Devonian, which overlay the Silurian and underlay the Carboniferous.

De la Beche wrote extensively on geology; his A Geological Manual (1831), How to Observe (1835), and Geological Observer (1851) were in part aimed at satisfying the growing popular interest in geology.

 
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: De la Beche, Sir Henry Thomas
(də lä bāsh, dĕləbĕsh') , 1796–1855, English geologist. As a result of his private undertaking to prepare a geological map of England, the British government became aware of the need for such mapping. In 1832 his work was subsidized, and in 1835 the Geological Survey was formed with De la Beche as its first director. He wrote several standard works on geology, including A Geological Manual (1831, 3d ed. 1833) and How to Observe Geology (1835), which he enlarged under the title The Geological Observer (1851, 2d ed. 1853). He was knighted in 1842.
 
Wikipedia: Henry De la Beche
Henry Thomas de la Beche
Enlarge
Henry Thomas de la Beche

Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche (February 10, 1796April 13, 1855) was an English geologist.

Biography

His father, an officer in the army, possessed landed property in Jamaica, but died while his son was still young. De la Beche spent his early life living with his mother in Lyme Regis, where he acquired a love for geology. At the age of fourteen he entered the military college at Great Marlow.

The peace of 1815, however, changed his career. At the age of twenty-one he joined the Geological Society of London, continuing throughout life to be one of its most active, useful and honoured members. He was president in 1848 -1849. He visited many localities of geological interest, not only in Britain, but also on the continent, in France and Switzerland. Returning to the south-west of England he began the detailed investigation of the rocks of Cornwall and Devon. Contact with the mining community of that part of the country gave him the idea that the nation ought to compile a geological map of the United Kingdom, and collect and preserve specimens to illustrate, and aid in further developing, its mineral industries.

The government then appointed him in connection with the Ordnance Survey. This formed the starting point of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, which was officially recognized in 1835, when De la Beche was appointed director. Increasing stores of valuable specimens began to arrive in London; and the building at Craigs Court, where the young Museum of Economic Geology was placed, became too small. De la Beche appealed to the authorities to provide a larger structure and to widen the whole scope of the scientific establishment of which he was the head. Parliament sanctioned the erection of a museum in Jermyn Street, London, and the organization of a staff of professors with laboratories and other appliances. The establishment, in which were combined the offices of the Geological Survey, the Museum of Practical Geology, The Royal School of Mines and the Mining Record Office, was opened in 1851.

In 1830, de la Beche published Sections and views, illustrative of geological phaenomena, a series of line drawings to encourage more accurate depictions of geological formations. De la Beche published numerous memoirs on English geology in the Transactions of the Geological Society of London, as well as in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, notably the Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon and West Somerset (1839). He likewise wrote A Geological Manual (1831; 3rd ed., 1833); and Researches in Theoretical Geology (1834), in which he enunciated a philosophical treatment of geological questions much in advance of his time. An early volume, How to Observe Geology (1835 and 1836), was rewritten and enlarged by him late in life, and published under the title of The Geological Observer (1851; 2nd ed., 1853).

De la Beche was the principal antagonist of Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick in what has been labeled The Great Devonian Controversy. He frequently used cartoons as a tactful way to express his frustrations on this and other issues.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1819. He was knighted in 1848 and, near the close of his life he was awarded the Wollaston medal.

Cartoons

A great supporter of the work and importance of Mary Anning, of Lyme Regis, De la Beche drew a sketch, in 1830, entitled "Duria Antiquior - A More Ancient Dorset", which showed Mary Anning's finds: (three types of Ichthyosaur, a Plesiosaur and Dimorphodon. It even appears to show the production of coproliths, from a terrified plesiosaur.

He was a great and objective scientist and poked fun at some of the more outlandish theories of the time, such as that put forward by Charles Lyell, proposing that geological and biological history were cyclical and that ancient life forms would again walk the earth. His cartoon, also drawn in 1830, was entitled "Awful Changes" and depicted an ichthyosaur professor lecturing on a fossilised human skull: "You will at once perceive," continued Professor Ichthyosaurus, "that the skull before us belonged to some of the lower order of animals; the teeth are very insignificant, the power of the jaws trifling, and altogether it seems wonderful how the creature could have procured food."

External links

References


 
 

Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Henry De la Beche" at WikiAnswers.

 

Copyrights:

Scientist. A Dictionary of Scientists. Copyright © Market House Books Ltd 1993, 1999, 2003. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Henry De la Beche" Read more

Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar!  
Click here to download now. 

Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.

On this page:   E-mail   print Print  Link  

 

Keep Reading

Mentioned In: