John Phillips (1800-1874)
Professor John Phillips. FRS (25 December 1800 – 24 April 1874). English geologist.
1800 Born at Mardon, Wilts., nephew of William Smith, "father of English geology", who raised him after his father’s death in 1808
He and his uncle travelled extensively in the north of England as itinerant surveyors, using their travels to work also on Smith’s geological maps.
1834 Appointed to the Chair of Geology at King's College, London, published a "Guide to Geology" and was Fellow of the Royal Society.
1839 His Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset was published in 1839, followed by Figures and Descriptions of Palaeozoic Fossils of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset in 1841.
1841 He published the first global geologic time scale based on correlating strata world wide based on fossils, developing William Smith’s ideas, helping to standardize terminology including the term Mesozoic, which he invented. [1]. He also identified and named the other major geological eras Palaeozoic and Caenozoic, and demonstrated the mass extinctions between them.
1844 Phillips was appointed Professor of Geology at the University of Dublin, and was awarded the prestigious Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society of London. He also published Memoirs of William Smith LLD, Author of the Map of the Strata of England and Wales, by his Nephew and Pupil, John Phillips FRS, FGS, etc. In this, he objectively confirmed his uncle's priority to many major contributions to geology.
1849 Published the Geological Survey of the Malvern Hills. His sister Anne made a significant contribution by refuting Murchison's accepted view of their formation. In this year too, he was appointed as a Commissioner to enquire into and report on ventilation in coal mines, which led to the introduction of colliery inspectors.
1851 Exhibited at the Great Exhibition
1853 Appointed Deputy Reader in Geology at the University of Oxford.
1856 He was elevated to Professor
1858 elected President of the Geological Society of London.
Between 1856 and 1865, he wrote a number of astronomical papers which he communicated to the Royal Society.
Although a devout Christian, Phillips engaged in a scientific debate with Charles Darwin on the age of the earth. In 1860 Phillips argued that geological evidence demonstrated this was much greater than 100 million years, compared with the religious teaching of about 6000 years. In the same year, he published his book Life on Earth: its Origin and Succession.
1874 Phillips died in Oxford after a fall. He lay in state overnight in the Yorkshire Museum before burial in York Cemetery alongside his sister.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Yorkshire philo. Soc.