Charles lyell biography for kids

When did charles lyell make his discovery

He was the foremost geologist of his day, and an influence on the young Charles Darwin. His work was rewarded with a knighthood , and later he was created a hereditary baronet. The house of his birth is in the Scottish Lowlands. Round the house is farmland, but within a short distance to the north-west are the Grampian Mountains in the Scottish Highlands.

Charles would have seen this view from his house as a child. He was also fortunate that his family's second home was in a completely different area: at Bartley Lodge in the New Forest , England. Both these places lit his interest in the natural world. Lyell was a rich man, and earned more money as an author. He came from a prosperous family, and worked briefly as a lawyer in the s.

From onward his books gave him both income and fame. Lyell's Principles of Geology was his most famous and most important book. It was first published in three volumes, in — The book was about the ideas of James Hutton , but with many additions, improvements and examples. The book made Lyell to be known as an important geological theorist.

It was a work of synthesis , backed by his own personal observations on his travels. The central argument in Principles was that the present is the key to the past.