Lyell

[ lahy-uhl ]

noun

1. Sir Charles, 1797–1875, English geologist.
2. Mount, a mountain in E central California, in Yosemite National Park, in the Sierra Nevada. 13,114 feet (3,997 meters).
3. Also Lyall. a mountain on the border of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, in the Rocky Mountains. 11,520 feet (3,511 meters).

Lyell

/ ˈlaɪəl /

noun

1. LyellSir Charles17971875MScottishSCIENCE: geologist Sir Charles. 1797–1875, Scottish geologist. In Principles of Geology (1830–33) he advanced the theory of uniformitarianism, refuting the doctrine of catastrophism

Lyell

/ lī′əl /

1. Scottish geologist who is considered one of the founders of modern geology. He is most famous for his principle of uniformitarianism, as first set forth in his three-volume Principles of Geology (1830–1833).

Biography

As a boy, Charles Lyell collected butterflies. This hobby might seem a far cry from his later professional work in geology, but in fact the two were closely linked. At that young age, he was already a keen observer of nature with excellent instincts for comparison. Throughout his life, Lyell traveled and collected observations on natural phenomena as he had once collected butterflies. These observations convinced him even as a young man that nature was to be understood through genuinely natural processes rather than as the result of supernatural forces or catastrophic events. Thus was born the theory of uniformitarianism, which maintained that the same geological processes had been at work in the same way throughout Earth's history, and that major features such as mountains showed that the Earth was very old, since geological processes worked very slowly. To convince people of his notions, Lyell needed to back them up with facts, and the three volumes of his pathbreaking Principles of Geology (1830–1833) are notable for being chock-full of geological facts. This principled method of thinking and marshaling evidence, no less than his radical ideas about the Earth's history, was itself revolutionary for the time (something perhaps not appreciated today). By claiming that the Earth was many millions rather than a few thousands of years old, Lyell opened up vast new possibilities for other thinkers, most notably Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection also required time for slow, incremental changes in the history of life.

Example Sentences

Sir Charles Lyell, when a young man, visited the Turner family in 1817, and gives us a very high idea of them all.

From Project Gutenberg

The delta at the mouth of the Mississippi was calculated by Lyell to have been 100,000 years in forming.

From Project Gutenberg

On the other hand, Lyell's Principles of Geology had appeared and obtained wide acceptance.

From Project Gutenberg

How highly this Essay was esteemed by his contemporaries is shown by the expressions of Lyell and of Darwin.

From Project Gutenberg

In comparison with that antiquity, Lyell believed the historical period ‘would appear quite insignificant in duration.’

From Project Gutenberg