Sir Roderick Impey Murchison , 1792-1871, British geologist. He served in the Napoleonic Wars but after the peace turned his attention to science. In the 1830s he undertook the investigation of previously undifferentiated rock strata in Wales and England; as a result of his researches he established the Silurian as a new geologic system and described it in The Silurian System (2 vol. in 1, 1839). With Adam Sedgwick he collaborated on the establishment of the Devonian system, and after carrying on an extended survey in Russia (1840-44) he also defined and named the Permian period . His last investigations were directed toward the geology of the Scottish Highlands. In 1846 he was knighted, and in 1855 he was appointed director-general of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. Murchison endowed a chair of geology and mineralogy at the Univ. of Edinburgh. He revised and modified the material of his earlier work in Siluria (1854) and collaborated on the Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains (1845).
Bibliography: See biography by Sir Archibald Geikie (2 vol., 1875).
Author not available, MURCHISON, SIR RODERICK IMPEY.,
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Sir Roderick Impey Murchison: (1792-1871) Pioneering Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison was instrumental in the identification and naming of several geological time periods.(Late Great Geographers #56)
Geographical; 6/1/2005; Amodeo, Christian; 476 words;
... background? Roderick Impey Murchison was born on ... residence. At 32, Murchison gave up his ... distinguished chemist Sir Humphrey Davy, Murchison began to attend ... secretary. Murchison initially studied ... classic. In 1831, Murchison travelled to ...
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Anniversaries
The Independent - London; 2/19/1994; 728 words;
... and composer, 1743; Sir William Fairbairn, engineer, 1789; Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, geologist, 1792 ... novelist, 1917. Deaths: Sir Henry Savile, scholar ... tight-rope walker, 1897; Sir Herbert Hamilton ... illustrator, 1959; Sir Charles Leonard Woolley ...
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From Russia with love for Scot
Evening News - Scotland; 12/9/2005; MICHAEL BLACKLEY; 669 words;
... Scottish geologist Sir Roderick Murchison that they travelled ... birth. In 1841, Sir Roderick named one of the ... discover more about Murchison. They were seeking ... found from that age. Murchison's extensive study ... they compiled on Murchison, who once lived ... Muir of ...
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Nikolay Ivanovitch Korsharov and his 'Mineralogue Russlands' (1853-1891).(Mineral Books)
The Mineralogical Record; 7/1/1995; Wilson, Wendell E.; 1639 words;
... The famous British geologist, Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871), and the French ... Koksharov was assigned to serve as Murchison's aide-de-camp. During the next ... districts of European Russia. Murchison himself always attributed Koksharov ...
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Annual general meeting.
The Geographical Journal; 9/1/2001; 4396 words;
... the senior of these - the Murchison Award - will be given last ... for the recipient of the Murchison Award to make a brief speech ... many of you will know, Sir James Clark Ross, as he ... part, as recipient of the Murchison Award, I remember Sir Roderick Impey Murchison for ...
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Volcano expert with the coolest job in the world
Evening News - Scotland; 12/12/2006; Sandra Dick; 1144 words;
... inspiration behind his career - will also be waiting for news of his latest adventures. But despite his years of ... into rock again and then lifted up to form land. * Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, born in 1792 in Ross-shire, lived for much of his ...
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Putting a face to the age of democracy
Scotland on Sunday; 4/7/2002; KATIE GRANT; 567 words;
... Scots of the past. Who any longer knows anything about 14th century poet John Barber or 19th century geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, both of whom feature on the gallery walls? Even in their own centuries these men were hardly feted in the ...
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This is Luxury, Edinburgh
Evening News - Scotland; 12/20/2002; Rick Wilson; 1028 words;
... The attractive red sandstone from which the Caley is built is called Permian - named by Scottish geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison in 1841 after a visit to the Perm area of the Urals, where the 250 million-year-old stone is abundant. * Of ...
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