King of Siluria: How Roderick Murchison Changed the Face of Geology - Brossura

Morton, John Leslie

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0954682904 ISBN 13: 9780954682903

Casa editrice: Brocken Spectre Publishing, 2004

Riassunto

This is the story of one of the most successful pioneers of Geology in the 19th century. From joining the Geological Society in 1824, Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871) became its President only seven years later! He went about his investigation of older rocks in Wales and Eastern Europe with boundless energy and was the first to differentiate and name the Silurian, Devonian and Permian periods of geological time. He was commissioned by Czar Nicholas I to report on the mineral wealth of Russia, and undertook in one summer a hazardous journey, by various forms of transport, of over 14,000 miles, from St. Petersburg via the Urals to the coalfields in the south. The Czar rewarded him with a Russian knighthood. He later received a baronetcy from Queen Victoria. To these honours were added a further seventeen major awards from governments and scientific societies across Europe. Murchison was the author of more than 350 publications for a wide range of British and foreign journals; his greatest work was the 768-page 'The Silurian System'. He was also President of the Royal Geographic Society for many years and was a champion of world exploration, including David Livingstone's travels in Africa and Sir John Franklin's search for a Northwest Passage. During the 1849 meeting of the British Association in Birmingham, Murchison led an excursion to the Dudley Caverns, inviting members of the public to join the delegates. Nearly 15,000 people took advantage of his invitation to a lecture on the submarine formation of the rock. He wore for the occasion a high-crowned Tyrolean hat and a shepherd's plaid scarf. He took them to the top of the Wren's Nest, where he was enthroned by the Bishop of Oxford, to everyone's amusement,as 'King of Siluria'. After extensive reearch, John L. Morton has presented Murchison's remarkable lifestory in detail and included forty illustrations, sixteen in colour.

Su questo libro

Recensione

A number of our readers bought John L. Morton's book 'Strata' about the life and work of William Smith, 'the father of English geology'. That book sold very well and is now out of print. The author is to republish it with colour illustrations and now, following a prompt I put in my original review of 'Strata' John has turned his attention to another of the geological 'greats', arguably the greatest of them all, Roderick Murchison. In the finest traditions of such books, John Morton has clearly done his homework with this biography of Murchison and his work. He has drawn on many sources and the book includes quite a lot of original correspondence, such as that between Murchison and his arch rival Sedgwick. The primary source is the biography of Murchison published in 1875 shortly after his death. Morton clearly gets close to the life and times of Murchison, including visiting the house he was born in and two of the houses he lived in during his later life. You almost get the feeling that Morton knew his subject, so alive is the text. This is the story of a remarkable man, a man of privilege who was to become a baron and President of both the Geological Society and the Royal Geographical Society,a family man who was often accompanied on his travels by his wife. Above all this is a book that maps out Murchison's many remarkable achievements, from his naming of the Silurian, the Devonian and the Permian to his epic journey through Russia. However it was a book published in 1854 for which he will for ever be remembered, 'Siluria'. In fact it was three mighty volumes of everlasting value. This lively and interesting book fills a gap that should have been filled long ago. Thanks to John Morton everyone can now read about Roderick Murchison and begin to understand what drove the great man to achieve so much. Buy it! --Chris Darmon 'Down to Earth' magazine (Geo Supplies Ltd.)

L'autore

John Morton was educated at Merchant Taylors' School near Northwood, Middlesex. Through the R.A.F. Section of the Combined Cadet Forse he won a Flying Scholarship and gained a Pilot's Licence before he could drive a car. He was commissioned during National Service in the Royal Air Force and trained as a pilot on piston Provosts and Vampires. He joined British European Airways in January 1956 and progressed through flying Herons, Viscounts, Comets, and Boeing 707s to Lockheed Tristars. He was granted his first command in 1967 and culminated his career as a Route Training Captain. During thirty-seven years, he logged 17,600 flying hours, covering an estimated eight million miles. He has published a small booklet explaining the opeational aspects of airline flying for the layman and including a number of anecdotes from his long career. It is entitled 'Whatever were you thinking of, Captain? A Handbook for Airline Passengers'. Genuinely believing that his Queen's Scout Award was a major factor in his being selected for aircrew training, he has tried to put something back into Scouting. He was District Commissioner for Horsham, West Sussex, in the 1980s and has served over thirty-five years as a warranted Leader and in administrative roles in the movement. Following retirement, he studied for a BSc degree with the Open University, reading General Science, Astronomy, Geology and the History of Science. For seventeen years he edited 'Stonechat', the magazine of the Horsham Geological Field Club and he is the author of 'Strata', a biography of William Smith, another of the great pioneers of 19th-century geology (available from Amazon or Brocken Spectre Publishing). Largely on the strength of his authorship of 'Strata' John Morton was, in 2001, elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Brocken Spectre Publishing
• Data di pubblicazione: 2004
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0954682904
• ISBN 13: 9780954682903
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Disegnatore: Morton John Leslie
• Numero di pagine: 272
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile