JAMES HUTTON (1726-1797) AND CHARLES LYELL (1797-1875) - THE UNSUNG HEROES OF FORENSIC GEOLOGY

James Hutton, (Scottish farmer, naturalist and farther of modern geology) and Sir Charles Lyell are well known to all geologists. In their own time, Hutton was not recognized for his work. Lyell, born the year Hutton died, followed the works of Hutton. Uniformitarianism’ (Hutton) and ‘Present is the key to the past’ (Lyell) are the legacy of these two stalwarts. Both used careful observation and sound scientific logic, the backbone of their conclusions, in proposing theories relating to Earth.

James Hutton, trained in medicine and chemistry, made careful geological observations and arguments. He recognized that the history of the Earth could be determined by understanding how processes such as erosion and sedimentation work in the present day. His approach to studying the Earth established geology as a science. Lyell, educated in Oxford (1820), worked as a lawyer first and after going through rural England, where he observed geological phenomena, he got interested in geology and worked as Professor of Geology at King's College, London in 1830s. Using his own observations coupled with the writings of Hutton on ‘Uniformitarianism’, he published three volumes in geology that have become classic. He covered many aspects of geology, which encompassed the origin of the earth, volcanoes, earthquakes from many regions of the world including China and India. His reasoning was based on scientific observations, analyses akin to that of Hutton.

During the times of Hutton and Lyell, Forensic science was virtually unknown. It is not until Mathieu Orfila established Toxicology in 1813 and Hans Gross (1847-1915) founded the scientific criminal investigation and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle popularized the Sherlock Holmes series during (1887-1983) that Forensic science became well known.

Today most scientists agree that the many scientific investigations could be considered as Forensic. It is time that the Geologic community recognizes Hutton and Lyell (stalwarts of geology) as the ‘Unsung Heroes of Forensic Geology’.