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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Charles Lyell
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(1797–1875, kt 1848)
Geologist whose Principles of Geology (1830–3) became the classic 19C textbook on the subject, establishing as orthodox the 'uniformitarian' theory first put forward by James *Hutton. He was prominent among the scientists who identified the epochs of the Tertiary period (70–10 million years ago) in terms of the surviving species which were then alive; and it was he who coined the names in use today (Eocene, Miocene, Pliocene).
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