Murchison

Murchison, Sir Roderick Impet, was born in 1792. Entering the army at the age of fifteen, he fought under Wellesley and Moore, taking part in the battle of Corunna. He left the service early. An accidental meeting with Sir Humphry Davy attracted his mind towards science, especially towards geology. In a few years he had explored large tracts of England and Scotland, and been elected joint-secretary of the Geological Society. In 1831 he began the investigations which led to the establishment of the Silurian system, the name given to the volume published in 1839. This was followed much later by a more comprehensive treatise, entitled Siluria.. About 1840 he resolved to explore the rocks of Russia, and in 1845 published the results in his great work on Russia and the Ural Mountains. In 1846 he was knighted, and became President of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1866 he received a baronetcy, and subsequently founded the chair of geology at Edinburgh. He died in 1871.