Charles Lapworth
Charles Lapworth (born September 20, 1842 in Faringdon ( Berkshire ), † March 13, 1920 in Birmingham ) was an English geologist .
Live and act
Born in Faringdon in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire ) and trained as a teacher, Lapworth settled in the border region with Scotland, where he studied the previously little known fossil fauna of the area. He married in 1869 and stayed in the area. After patient geological mapping and pioneering use of index fossil analysis , Lapworth showed that the series of rocks he was studying, previously viewed as a mighty sequence of rocks from the Silurian , was in fact a much thinner series of rocks, repetitive by folding and faulting has been.
Lapworth was a professor at several universities and received many awards for his work. His best-known work is the investigation of the Silurian strata using guide fossils, especially certain types of graptolites , and the proposal (later officially recognized) to add the strata between the Cambrian of North Wales and the Silurian of South Wales to a new geological system : the Ordovician . This proposal put an end to a heated dispute over the age of the strata in question that had long simmered between British geologists Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison .
Charles Lapworth also devoted his time to geological mapping near Durness in Scotland's Northwest Highlands , and was the first to make the highly controversial claim that there were older rocks above younger ones, caused by intricate folding or faulting. British geologists Ben Peach and John Horne were later sent there, and their extensive research proved the correctness of Lapworth's theory.
Honors
Lapworth has received numerous awards for his pioneering work and contributions to geology. In 1891 he received what was then the greatest honor for his work, the gold medal of the Royal Society , and in 1899 the Geological Society of London awarded him their highest honor, the Wollaston Medal , which they gave him for his services in geological exploration of the Southern Uplands and the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Since 1888 he was a member ( Fellow ) of the Royal Society and since 1916 Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .
The Lapworth Medal of the Palaeontological Association is named after him. The Department of Geology at the University of Birmingham bears his name. The same applies to Lapworth Cirque , a mountain basin in the Shackleton Range of the Coatslands in Antarctica .
Lapworth Museum
Numerous writings on Charles Lapworth can be found in the Special Collections of the University of Birmingham . The university also maintains the Lapworth Museum, which is located in the Aston Webb building on Edgbaston main campus. The Lapworth Archives, housed in the museum, contain a remarkably complete collection of his research areas and lectures.
Web links
- Charles Lapworth 1842-1920 School of Geography & Geosciences, University of St Andrews
- The Lapworth Museum: Prof. Charles Lapworth LL D FRS, 1842-1920
- The Lapworth Museum Archive Collections
Individual evidence
- ^ Entry to Lapworth ;, Charles (1842-1920); Geologist in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
- ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 30, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lapworth, Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British geologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 20, 1842 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Faringdon , Berkshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 13, 1920 |
| Place of death | Birmingham |