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GEOLOGIST

Charles Lyell

1797 - 1875

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Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles Darwin and as the author of Principles of Geology (1830–33), which presented to a wide public audience the idea that the earth was shaped by the same natural processes still in operation today, operating at similar intensities. The philosopher William Whewell dubbed this gradualistic view "uniformitarianism" and contrasted it with catastrophism, which had been championed by Georges Cuvier and was better accepted in Europe. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Charles Lyell has received more than 973,728 page views. His biography is available in 50 different languages on Wikipedia (down from 51 in 2019). Charles Lyell is the 4th most popular geologist (down from 3rd in 2019), the 377th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 337th in 2019) and the most popular British Geologist.

Charles Lyell is most famous for his book Principles of Geology, in which he argued that the Earth was shaped by natural forces and not by catastrophes.

Memorability Metrics

  • 970k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 66.60

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 50

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.67

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.19

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Charles Lyells by language


Among GEOLOGISTS

Among geologists, Charles Lyell ranks 4 out of 59. Before him are Alfred Wegener, Charles Francis Richter, and Nicolas Steno. After him are Mary Anning, Inge Lehmann, Milutin Milanković, James Hutton, Andrija Mohorovičić, Friedrich Mohs, Eduard Suess, and Francis Beaufort.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1797, Charles Lyell ranks 10. Before him are Mary Shelley, Gaetano Donizetti, Shamil, 3rd Imam of Dagestan, Adolphe Thiers, Hiroshige, and Joseph Henry. After him are Ghalib, Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Alfred de Vigny, Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, and Paul Delaroche. Among people deceased in 1875, Charles Lyell ranks 8. Before him are Georges Bizet, Ferdinand I of Austria, Jean-François Millet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Andrew Johnson, and Tongzhi Emperor. After him are Isaac Singer, Éliphas Lévi, John Edward Gray, Charles Wheatstone, Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, and Moses Hess.

Others Born in 1797

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Others Deceased in 1875

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Charles Lyell ranks 377 out of 7,765. Before him are Harold Pinter (1930), Pelagius (360), Sam Neill (1947), Anthony Burgess (1917), C. F. Powell (1903), and Robert Walpole (1676). After him are Angela Lansbury (1925), Calico Jack (1682), Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (1887), Robert Burns (1759), Bonnie Tyler (1951), and David Niven (1910).

Others born in United Kingdom

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Among GEOLOGISTS In United Kingdom

Among geologists born in United Kingdom, Charles Lyell ranks 1. After him are Mary Anning (1799), James Hutton (1726), Eduard Suess (1831), William Smith (1769), Gideon Mantell (1790), William Buckland (1784), Adam Sedgwick (1785), Arthur Holmes (1890), John Phillips (1800), William Nicol (1770), and Henry Clifton Sorby (1826).

British born Geologists

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