Branner Blog

Yesterday we displayed a selection of Branner Library’s treasures for some visitors to the School of Earth Sciences. I spent a bit of time browsing our locked stacks area in search of the perfect gems, and that act has inspired this first edition of Famous Geologist Friday.

Today, I’d like you to meet Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871). Like many of the people you’ll likely find in this feature, Murchison was a Scottish geologist, and one of his great accomplishments came when he devised a master organizational scheme for the Silurian System (see The Silurian System, 1839). He figured most of that one out without ever leaving the British Isles. However, the Devonian sent him further afield.

Endorsed by the Czar, Murchison set out to perform a geological survey of Russia in 1840-41. The interesting thing about all of this is that Murchison had his goal–to correlate Russian stratigraphy with other parts of the world–and the Czar had his goal–to identify and quantify Russia’s mineral resources. The Czar wanted to know how to speed up industrial development in Russia; Murchison wanted to know what was going on with the Silurian rocks in Russia and to settle the “Great Devonian Controversy.” In the end, the Czar’s directives largely determined his route, but Murchison was free to perform his own research. It’s the crux of geology–some rocks are economically desirable and some are just pretty.

As for Murchison, the editors of the excellent, excellent volume, Murchison’s Wanderings in Russia..., say it well: “The overall purpose was to acquire new knowledge and to make recommendations as to its applications. Perhaps it could be said, given both Murchison’s previous and future activities, that in this combination of theory and practice Murchison had found his true metier.”

To finding one’s true metier.
Enjoy the weekend.

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References:
Collie and Diemer, eds. (2004) Murchison’s Wanderings in Russia: His Geological Exploration of Russian in Europe and the Ural Mountains, 1840 and 1841.
Morton. (2004) King of Siluria: How Roderick Murchison changed the face of geology.
Murchison. (1839) The Silurian System.
Murchison. (1845) The Geology of Russia.
Murchison. (1854) Siluria.