George Julius Scrope

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eruption of Vesuvius in 1822 - descriptive illustration by GJ Scrope

George Julius Scrope (born March 10, 1797 in London , † January 19, 1876 in Cobham , Surrey ) was an English geologist .

George Julius (Poulett) Scrope was born on March 10, 1797 as the second son of the merchant J. Poulett Thomson in what is now the London borough of Surrey . After finishing school, he attended Pembroke College in Oxford for a short time and then the well-known St John's College in Cambridge , from which he graduated in 1821 with a Bachelor of Arts . At an early stage he became interested in scientific topics, in particular geography and geology. During a long stay in Italy (1817–1820) he studied the volcanic phenomena of Vesuvius and Etna intensively . In October 1822 he himself witnessed a powerful eruption on Mount Vesuvius . Scrope recorded and discussed in detail the expansive forces of the underground magma and above all the enormous expansive forces of hot vapors (up to 800 o C), which can cause incalculable physical phenomena (e.g. pyroclastic currents ) in direct contact with the cooler layers of the atmosphere which can pose an enormous risk to humans and the environment (see illustration by GJ Scrope from 1864).

In 1824 GJ Scrope became an honorary member of the Geological Society of London and in 1867 with the award of the Wollaston Medal . Scrope published several basic geological works on volcanism during his life .

Web links

Commons : more pictures for the Vesuv  - album with pictures, videos and audio files